Turkey earthquake live updates: scores dead in Turkey and Syria after strong 7.8-magnitude quake

Scores dead in Turkey and Syria

Several hours after the earthquake as rescue teams rush to find people affected, the scale of destruction is slowly beginning to take shape.

Local officials in Turkey put the initial death toll at 53, although it threatened to climb substantially higher because it caught most people while they were still at home asleep and many may still be trapped under fallen buildings.

Early statements by officials suggested the death toll was at least 23 in Turkey’s Malatya province, 17 in Sanliurfa, six in Diyarbakir and five more in Osmaniye.

South across the border in Syria, state media said 42 had been killed and 200 injured in Aleppo, Hama and Latakia as a result of the earthquake “in a preliminary toll,” state news agency Sana said quoting a health ministry official.

The earthquake has leveled dozens of buildings across major cities of southern Turkey as well as Syria with tremors felt as far away as Ankara and the island of Cyprus.

A powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Turkey and Syria on Monday, killing dozens, leveling buildings, and sending tremors that were felt as far away as the island of Cyprus.

At least 10 cities across Turkey have been badly affected, including Gaziantep, Kahramanmaraş, Hatay, Osmaniye, Adiyaman, Malatya, Sanliurfa, Adana, Diyarbakir, and Kilis, according to Turkey’s disaster and emergency management agency.

South across the border in Syria, Aleppo, Hama, and Latakia have also been hard hit as a result of the earthquake.

A powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Turkey and Syria on Monday, killing dozens, leveling buildings, and sending tremors that were felt as far away as the island of Cyprus.

At least 10 cities across Turkey have been badly affected, including Gaziantep, Kahramanmaraş, Hatay, Osmaniye, Adiyaman, Malatya, Sanliurfa, Adana, Diyarbakir, and Kilis, according to Turkey’s disaster and emergency management agency.

South across the border in Syria, Aleppo, Hama, and Latakia have also been hard hit as a result of the earthquake.

A powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Turkey and Syria on Monday, killing dozens, leveling buildings, and sending tremors that were felt as far away as the island of Cyprus.

At least 10 cities across Turkey have been badly affected, including Gaziantep, Kahramanmaraş, Hatay, Osmaniye, Adiyaman, Malatya, Sanliurfa, Adana, Diyarbakir, and Kilis, according to Turkey’s disaster and emergency management agency.

South across the border in Syria, Aleppo, Hama, and Latakia have also been hard hit as a result of the earthquake.

The situation in northern Syria appears to be particularly dire, according to local authorities.

Major damage has so far been reported deep into the region on the Syrian side of the border, an area that includes millions of people already internally displaced by war in areas with fragile infrastructure.

At least 11 were killed in one town, and Ahmed and many more were buried in the rubble, a doctor in the town, Muheeb Qaddour, told The Associated Press by telephone.

We fear that the deaths are in the hundreds,” Qaddour said, referring to the rebel-held northwest. “We are under extreme pressure.”

Scores dead in Turkey and Syria

Several hours after the earthquake as rescue teams rush to find people affected, the scale of destruction is slowly beginning to take shape.

Local officials in Turkey put the initial death toll at 53, although it threatened to climb substantially higher because it caught most people while they were still at home asleep and many may still be trapped under fallen buildings.

Early statements by officials suggested the death toll was at least 23 in Turkey’s Malatya province, 17 in Sanliurfa, six in Diyarbakir, and five more in Osmaniye.

South across the border in Syria, state media said 42 had been killed and 200 injured in Aleppo, Hama, and Latakia as a result of the earthquake “in a preliminary toll,” state news agency Sana said quoting a health ministry official.

The earthquake has leveled dozens of buildings across major cities of southern Turkey as well as Syria with tremors felt as far away as Ankara and the island of Cyprus.

23 killed and 420 injured in Malatya: governor

We are receiving some more information from Malatya, a city in eastern Turkey hit by today’s earthquake.

According to the regional governor, and as cited by Turkey’s Anadolu news agency, 23 people have been killed in the city, another 420 injured and 140 buildings collapsed.

Civilians and fighters sift through the rubble of a collapsed building looking for victims and survivors following an earthquake in the town of Jandaris, in the countryside of Syria's northwestern city of Afrin Photograph: Rami Al Sayed/AFP/Getty Images

A man carries away an injured child following an earthquake in the town of Jandaris, Syria Photograph: Rami Al Sayed/AFP/Getty Images

Members of the Syrian civil defense operating in rebel-held areas are claiming “tens of victims and people stuck under the rubble” in northern Syria on Monday.

The civil defense, known as the White Helmets, said in a post on Twitter that the volunteer group was working to rescue survivors.

Dozens of victims and trapped under the rubble as a result of the earthquakes that struck northwest Syria at dawn today.”

At least eight dead in north Syria: hospital reports

At least eight people have died in north Syria, according to a hospital in the region.

“Eight people have died in the regions of Azaz and al-Bab,” a source at a local hospital told Agence France-Presse, adding that the number is likely to rise as search and rescue operations are ongoing.

Major damage has been reported deep into northern Syria, an area that includes millions of people already internally displaced by war in areas with fragile infrastructure.

Members of the Syrian civil defense, a search and rescue service known as the White Helmets, shared a video from the town of Salqin in the northern province of Idlib close to the border with Turkey, saying they had begun work to rescue people trapped under collapsed buildings.

Disastrous conditions, collapses in residential buildings and some victims trapped under the rubble as a result of the earthquake that struck northwest Syria today. Our teams are on the highest levels of alert to respond and rescue those trapped,” they said.

15 killed, 30 injured in Sanliurfa province: governor

We are receiving some more information from Sanliurfa, the Turkish province east of Gaziantep where the quake’s epicenter was located.

Governor Salih Ayhan reported that at least 15 people were killed and another 30 injured in the province in an interview with a Turkish broadcaster

More images of fallen buildings and wreckage are coming in, as dawn is breaking:

A view of the destroyed building after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake jolts Turkiye's Kahramanmaras

Turkish interior minister Suleyman Soylu says 10 cities have been affected by the quake.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, the official said the cities of Gaziantep, Kahramanmaraş, Hatay, Osmaniye, Adiyaman, Malatya, Sanliurfa, Adana, Diyarbakir, and Kilis had all suffered damage.

Turkey’s disaster and emergency management agency said the earthquake was felt most intensely in the surrounding provinces of Kahramanmaraş but was also strongly felt in Hatay, Adana, Osmaniye, Diyarbakır, Malatya, and Şanlıurfa.

In Sanliurfa, the Turkish province east of Gaziantep where the quake’s epicenter was located, the effects were “severe and long-lasting” according to officials.

Governor Salih Ayhan urged citizens not to panic in a Twitter post early on Monday morning.

Şanlıurfa’da da hissettiğimiz şiddetli ve uzun süren bir #deprem yaşadık. Vatandaşlarımızın panik yapmamalarını,

@AFADBaskanlik

,

@DepremDairesi

ve @UrfaValiliğinden gelen bilgilere göre hareket etmelerini rica ediyorum.

Some images are dropping from inside Turkey and Syria showing large-scale destruction:

A view of a destroyed building in Diyarbakir Photograph: Anadolu

A view of a destroyed building in Adana, Turkey 

At least 15 dead - reports

New information from Agence France-Presse claims the death toll has increased to at least 15 people, with the number expected to climb much higher.

Locals officials said five people died in the province of Osmaniye and 10 more in Sanliurfa, which sits near Turkey’s border with Syria.

Concern for millions of Syrian refugees at the epicenter of the quake

The epicenter of the quake is home to millions of Syrian refugees living in Turkey outside the city of Gaziantep.

Turkey hosts the largest number of refugees in the world, 3.5 million Syrians, according to the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, which runs one of its largest operations from Gaziantep.

Many live in tents and makeshift structures.

In northwest Syria, the opposition’s Syrian civil defense described the situation in the rebel-held region as “disastrous” adding that entire buildings have collapsed and people are trapped under the rubble. The civil defense urged people to evacuate buildings to gather in open areas.

Videos posted on social networks show the moment multiple apartment buildings collapsed in southern Turkey.

A BBC Turkish correspondent in Diyarbakir reports that a shopping mall in the city collapsed.

Rushdi Abualouf, a BBC producer in the Gaza Strip, said there were about 45 seconds of shaking in the house he was staying in.