An earthquake of magnitude 7.8 followed by replicas struck southern Turkey and neighboring Syria, Monday, February 6, 2023, killing nearly 5,000 people and thousands of injured, according to a still provisional assessment.
A final official assessment still provisional reports 3,381 dead in Turkey, according to the public disaster management organization (AFAD), and 1440 dead in Syria and some 19,000 injured, including nearly 16,000 in Turkey
This brings to 4890 the total number of victims, which increases an hour by hour after two powerful earthquakes which are part of the series of most violent earthquakes that have struck the region for almost a century.
According to local media, the weather conditions marked by freezing cold have delayed rescue operations. Rescuers are tested in the cold, in the pouring rain or the snow, sometimes with bare hands, to save every life, the day after the earthquake which ravaged Turkey and Syria.