Turkey and Syria: at least 2,600 people confirmed
dead after major earthquakes with number set to rise – latest updates
Numbers of dead expected to increase rapidly amid
desperate search and rescue operations following two quakes on Monday
16m ago
12.58
EST
Summary
At least 2,600 people have been killed after two
powerful earthquakes struck Turkey and Syria within the space of 12 hours. The
death toll is expected to rise, with search and rescue operations under way
across the region as many buildings have collapsed and there are thought to be
many people trapped in the rubble.
Official figures from Turkey said 1,651 people
were killed across 10 provinces, with another 11,119 injured, according to the
country’s health minister. The death toll in government-held areas of Syria
rose to 968 people, with 1,280 injured, according to data from the Damascus
government and rescue workers in the northwestern region controlled by
insurgents.
More than 10 search and rescue teams from the
European Union have been mobilised in the wake of the earthquake that has hit
Turkey, a spokesperson for the European Commission said. The US, UK, Canada,
Israel, Russia and China are among other nations to have offered assistance and
calls have emerged for the international community to relax some of the
political restrictions on aid entering north-west Syria, the country’s last
rebel-held enclave and one of the areas worst hit by the earthquake.
The first quake struck as people slept, and
measured magnitude 7.8, one of the most powerful quakes in the region in at
least a century. It was felt as far away as Cyprus and Cairo. The European
Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said preliminary data showed the
second large quake measured 7.7 magnitude, and was 67km (42 miles) north-east
of Kahramanmaraş, Turkey, at a depth of 2km. There have been more than a 100
smaller aftershocks registered by seismologists.
The first quake had its epicentre near Gaziantep,
and it has damaged the historic castle there which had been in use since Roman
times.
Turkey’s armed forces have set up an air corridor
to enable search and rescue teams to reach the zone affected.
Turkey’s Akkuyu nuclear power plant, which is
under construction, was not damaged by the earthquake, an official from the
Russian company building the plant said.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has
called for increased funding for humanitarian aid in Syria, saying that many
people in the north-west of the country have already been displaced up to 20
times, and that medical care in the region was “strained beyond capacity, even
before this tragedy”.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said it was
concerned about areas in Turkey from which there had been no news following the
earthquake.
In 1999, a tremor of similar magnitude to today’s
quakes in Turkey devastated Izmit killing more than 17,000. Turkey’s president
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has described Monday as the worst disaster for the country
since 1939, when an earthquake killed over 32,000 people and injured more than
100,000.
The partial destruction of a Roman-era castle in
the Turkish city of Gaziantep has led to fears that two earthquakes that struck
on Monday may have damaged other priceless monuments in Turkey and Syria, areas
rich in cultural heritage.
There were no reports of British fatalities in
the earthquakes that hit Turkey and Syria, said foreign secretary James
Cleverly, acknowledging the relief effort was still at an early stage.
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