Magnitude earthquake 7.8:Turkey and Syria, killing more than 600

Early on Monday, a strong 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey and northern Syria, causing buildings to collapse and killing at least 641 people. Hundreds of people were injured, and it was suspected that hundreds more were buried beneath rubble, so the death toll was anticipated to grow as rescue personnel searched through the debris in towns and cities around the region. Residents roused from their sleep by the early morning earthquake on both sides of the border ran outside on a chilly, wet, and snowy winter night. Buildings were destroyed, and aftershocks were severe. Rescuers and locals scrambled amid piles of metal and concrete in numerous places to look for survivors beneath the ruins of their homes. According to Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Agency, 284 people died.in seven provinces of Turkey. 440 individuals, according to the agency, were hurt. According to Syrian official media, 237 people have died and more than 630 have been injured in government-controlled regions of the country. According to the White Helmets, the emergency organisation in opposition regions, at least 120 people were killed in rebel-held areas. Three buildings reportedly fell close to one resident's home in the Turkish city of Adana. According to the local, journalism student Muhammet Fatih Yavus, one survivor was heard saying, "I don't have the strength anymore," as rescuers sought to get to him from beneath the debris. Cranes and rescue crews hurried patients on stretchers out of what was formerly an apartment complex in Diyarbakir, farther east, where there was a mountain of pancaked concrete floors.The earthquake destroyed opposition-held areas on the Syrian side of the border, where 4 million people had fled from other parts of the nation due to the protracted civil conflict. Many of them are surrounded by Russian-backed Syrian soldiers who occasionally conduct airstrikes while living in squalid conditions with little access to healthcare. The area's hospitals, according to rescuers, were overflowing.

Doctor Muheeb Qaddour, speaking over the phone from the town of Atmeh, stated of the entire rebel-held territory, "We worry that the dead are in the hundreds." White Helmets leader Raed Salah claimed that in some places, whole neighbourhoods had fallen. The region was hit by the earthquake, which was felt as far away as Cairo.Syrian civil war has lasted ten years. Turkey is home to millions of Syrian refugees. The region of Syria that was impacted by the earthquake is split between areas under the control of the government and the final opposition-held stronghold, which is encircled by government forces with Russian support. The epicentre of the earthquake was located outside of Gaziantep, a significant Turkish provincial capital, roughly 60 miles from the Syrian border.According to the USGS, the earthquake was 11 miles deep. At least 20 aftershocks followed, the biggest of which measured 6.6, according to Turkish officials. In a statement, Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser for the United States, said, "The reports of today's catastrophic earthquake in Turkey and Syria are deeply concerning the United States." We are prepared to help in any way that is required. The U.S. response options to assist individuals who are most impacted will be evaluated by USAID and other federal government partners, according to President Biden. In conjunction with the Turkish government, we will keep a careful eye on the situation. Many other countries also offered their assistance. France, Germany, Greece, and war-torn Ukraine are among them, with Volodomyr Zelenskyy claiming that Ukraine is "near" to joining them.the welcoming Turkish people" and eager to help, according to the Reuters news agency.Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, announced on Twitter that "search and rescue teams were promptly despatched" to the earthquake-affected districts.

We aim to survive this catastrophe as quickly and with as little damage as possible, he wrote. The Turkish defence ministry told Reuters that an air corridor had been constructed by Turkish military to enable search and rescue personnel to reach the earthquake zone. The port of Iskenderun in southern Turkey was reportedly damaged by the earthquake, although operations at other ports continued, according to the Turkish maritime authorities, according to Reuters. According to Reuters, which cited an energy official, oil was flowing through two significant pipelines in Turkey as usual, but said that operations at the Ceyhan oil port in southern Turkey had been halted, according to the Tribeca shipping agency. Due to damage to a gas pipeline, the supply of gas was cut off in three provinces.places close to them," Turkish state pipeline operator BOTAS was reported as saying by Reuters.According to a Russian corporation building the facility, which is being built in Turkey, the Akkuyu nuclear power plant wasn't harmed by the earthquake, according to Reuters. Buildings were reportedly falling in a swath that stretched more than 200 kilometres to the northeast, from the Syrian towns of Aleppo and Hama to Diyarbakir in Turkey. The efforts of emergency services trying to reach the damaged districts in Turkey were hampered by traffic congestion caused by individuals rushing to evacuate the earthquake-hit regions. Authorities pleaded with citizens to stay off the roadways. In the midst of temperatures that were close to freezing, mosques all around the area were being opened as shelters for individuals who couldn't go back to their damaged houses.

Rescue workers in Diyarbakir asked for stillness as they searched for lives beneath the rubble of an 11-story structure. One guy was brought out by rescuers, who carried him on a stretcher through a tense gathering of hundreds of onlookers who were nervously following the rescue operation. While a rescuer in a white helmet attempted to comfort a tearful girl who was also being held by two companions, a gray-haired mother sobbed before being carried away by a guy. The rebel-held area in northwest Syria is in a "disastrous" state, according to the opposition's Syrian Civil Defense, which also noted that entire buildings have fallen and people are trapped beneath the wreckage. People were instructed to leave buildings and congregate in open spaces by the civil defence. Emergency rooms were overflowing.Amjad Rass, president of the Syrian American Medical Society, noted the number of injured persons. Buildings in Damascus began to tremble, as terrified residents flocked to the streets. Residents in Lebanon were startled from their sleep by the earthquake, which shook the buildings for around 40 seconds. Many Beirut residents evacuated their houses and wandered the streets or sped away from structures in their automobiles. A snowfall that was occurring in the Middle East at the time of the earthquake is predicted to last through Thursday. Major fault lines run across Turkey, which is regularly affected by earthquakes. Strong earthquakes that struck northwest Turkey in 1999 claimed the lives of around 18,000 people.