At least 1,200 people died when a 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit southeastern Turkey and northern Syria early Monday morning.
After the first quake, which happened early in the morning in the town of Pazarcik in Turkey’s Kahramanmaras province, there were several strong aftershocks. On both sides of the border, thousands of buildings fell down, and the number of deaths was expected to rise as rescuers looked through the wreckage for people who might still be alive.
There is a state of emergency in both Turkey and Syria
Monday’s deadly earthquake in Turkey was about as strong as the strongest one ever recorded in Turkey. It could be felt in Syria and other nearby countries.
In 1939, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit northeastern Turkey and killed about 30,000 people. The USGS says that Monday’s quake in southeastern Turkey also had a magnitude of 6.
Turkey is on top of a lot of important fault lines, so it has a lot of earthquakes.
In 1999, strong earthquakes killed about 18,000 people in the northwest of Turkey.
According to data from the U.S. Geological Survey, two aftershocks with magnitudes of 7.5 and 6.2 hit the Kahramanmaras province in southeastern Turkey at about 1:30 p.m. local time on Monday.
During a press conference on Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the earthquake that hit the country on Monday had killed at least 912 people and hurt at least 5,382.
Erdogan said that tens of thousands of buildings had been torn down
In the wake of the terrible earthquake, the Turkish Agency for Disaster and Emergency Management (AFAD) sent out 1,898 rescue workers and 150 vehicles. In the city of Kahramanmaras, near the epicenter, 130 members of the Turkish national police force have been sent, along with mobile command centers and kitchens. Also, 300,000 blankets were sent to the area, which is having a very harsh winter.
State media say that since then, 239 people have died and 600 have been hurt in parts of Syria where the government is in charge. The White Helmets are the name of the Syrian Civil Defense and Medical Group that works in rebel-held areas. They say that at least 147 people were killed in rebel-held areas.
A British group called the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says that 320 people have been killed in total.
Jake Sullivan: “the U.S. national security adviser, released a statement late Sunday night in which he said he was “deeply worried” about reports of a “destructive earthquake” in Turkey and Syria and promised to “keep a close eye on the situation.”
Sullivan said: “We’re ready to help in any way we can.” He also said that Vice President Joe Biden had asked USAID and other federal government partners to look at how the U.S. could help those who were most hurt.”
The United States Geological Survey said that the quake in Turkey was 7.8 on the Richter scale.
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