ISTANBUL: Over 150 died after an earthquake of powerful 7.8 magnitudes hit Turkey and Syria on early Monday while the nation rested. While Turkey has reported 76 deaths so far, Syria has reported 99. Twenty people have been reported killed in rebel-held areas of Syria as well, thus taking the total death toll to 195.
Visuals showed residents who dodged the quake standing in the snow in their pajamas, watching the rescuers dig through the debris of damaged homes.
By far this quake has been classified as the strongest to hit the region in a century. Further, as many as 440 people have been injured in Turkey, according to the country’s Disaster and Emergency Management agency. The same figure for Syria is 334.
Several buildings had partially collapsed in Hama, central Syria. Civil defence and firefighters were seen working to pull sruvivors out of the rubble. Large-scale rescue operations are underway in both countries and the death toll is expected to rise further.
Turkey is one of the most active earthquake zones. The Turkish region suffered an earthquake of magnitude 7.4 in 1999- the worst the nation had experienced in decades.