On Monday, a powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9 shook central Turkey and northwest Syria, causing buildings to collapse and killing over 200 people. This earthquake also triggered a search for survivors buried under the rubble. The quake, which occurred in the early hours of a winter morning, was felt in Lebanon and Cyprus as well.
In my 40 years of life, I have never experienced anything like that, said Erdem, a citizen of the Turkish city of Gaziantep, which is close to the epicenter of the earthquake. Erdem declined to disclose his last name. At least three times, we experienced “extremely powerful shaking, like a baby in a crib.”
The United States was “profoundly concerned” about the quake in Turkey and Syria and was monitoring events closely, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Twitter.
“I have been in touch with Turkish officials to relay that we stand ready to provide any and all needed assistance,” he said.
In order to learn more about the situation and rescue attempts, President Tayyip Erdogan spoke over the phone with the governors of the eight affected provinces, according to a statement from his office.
The majority of the fatalities and injuries, according to Syrian official media, occurred in the provinces of Hama, Aleppo, and Latakia, where large structures had been torn down.
“The situation is very tragic, tens of buildings have collapsed in the city of Salqin,” a member of the White Helmets rescue organization said in a video clip on Twitter, referring to a town about 5 km (3 miles) from the Turkish border.
Homes were “completely demolished,” according to the rescuer in the video, which showed a street covered in rubble.
Fighting during Syria’s nearly 12-year civil conflict has already caused damage to several buildings in the area.
Witnesses reported that residents of Damascus and the Lebanese cities of Beirut and Tripoli fled their buildings in case they fell and got into their automobiles. Erdem claimed that in Turkey’s Gaziantep, residents had abandoned their shaking homes because they were too terrified to stay.
