An earthquake of magnitude 7.8 struck, on Monday, February 6, 2023, southern Turkey and Syria, killing more than 500 people and nearly 3,000 injured in the two countries and very large damage according to the first balance sheets.
Following this disaster, the Turkish Minister of the Interior Süleyman Soyu said that all of Turkey was on alert. “We have issued a level four alarm. This is a call including international aid, “he said.
The governor of the province of Gaziantep called on the inhabitants to come together outside despite the cold.
Turkish rescuers and civil defense as well as Syrian firefighters were at work on Monday morning to try to extract any victims of the rubble.
At least 284 people were killed and at least 2320 were injured in Türkiye in seven different provinces, while more than a thousand buildings have completely collapsed, which is dreading even heavier balance sheets.
The results of the victims in Syria in the earthquake amounted to 237 people dead and 516 injured, the Syrian Ministry of Health announced today.
According to the American seismological institute USGS, the earthquake took place at 4:17 am local (01h17 GMT), at a depth of approximately 17.9 kilometers.
The epicenter is located in the district of Pazarcik, in the province of Kahramanmaras (Southeast), about 60 km as the crow flies from the Syrian border.
This earthquake has been the most important in Türkiye since the earthquake of August 17, 1999, which had caused 17,000 people, including a thousand in Istanbul.
