A 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey on Monday, killing more than 3,000 people in the country and neighboring Syria and trapping many more under rubble, as another major earthquake rocked the region.
Residents joined rescuers to search for survivors in freezing conditions, with the death toll expected to rise as the level of destruction from the initial powerful pre-dawn quake became clear.
The earthquake jolted people out of their beds and shook buildings throughout the Middle East, with tremors felt as far away as Egypt and Israel. Just hours later, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck the same region, raising the risk of a new humanitarian crisis in a region ravaged by years of conflict.
Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority said the death toll in the country alone had reached at least 1,762, while more than 12,000 people were injured.
In Syria, where nearly 4 million people have been displaced by nearly 12 years of civil war, hundreds were crushed to death in buildings already destroyed or weakened by the bombing.
The earthquake affected an area in Syria’s northwest that is split between government-held territory and the country’s last remaining rebel-controlled enclave. Turkey is home to millions of refugees from the conflict.
At least 593 people were killed and 1,411 injured in government-controlled areas, according to the country’s health ministry. In opposition-held areas, members of the opposition emergency organization known as the White Helmets said the earthquake had killed at least 700 people and injured more than 1,500.
This takes the combined death toll across the two borders to at least 3,055, with fears it could still rise significantly.
The US Geological Survey said the first quake was centered about 20 miles west of Gaziantep, Turkey, a major city and provincial capital, when it struck at 4:17 a.m. local time (8:17 a.m. ET Sunday).
It was centered at a depth of 11 miles, and was followed about 10 minutes later by a strong 6.7-magnitude aftershock. At least 20 aftershocks in total followed a few hours later.
According to the USGS, at 1:24 p.m. local time (5:24 a.m. ET) the 7.5-magnitude earthquake occurred about 100 miles north of Gaziantep at a depth of just 6 miles. Shallow earthquakes cause more damage.
In Turkey, the earthquake sent buildings collapsing, including parts of Gaziantep Palace, its most famous landmark and historical symbol of the city.
Local and social media footage showed parts of the ancient palace, which sits atop a 6,000-year-old hill of ruins, which had tumbled down the side of the hill and strewn across nearby streets.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said it was the country’s worst disaster since 1939, adding that thousands of buildings had collapsed in the earthquake and aftershocks.
“We were asleep when it hit the ground and when it stopped we ran out of the building,” 24-year-old Ibrahim Furkan Aydin told NBC News. He was holidaying with his mother from Istanbul and had arrived in Gaziantep on Saturday.
About 100 miles northeast, high school teacher Ismet Yilmaz was living in a student dormitory in the southern Turkish city of Cahta when the quake struck, forcing her, her family and her students to flee into the bitter cold.
“We woke up the students and went outside,” Yilmaz, 44, said in a message on Instagram from the sheltered car with his wife and three daughters.
He said search teams were sifting through the rubble on Monday morning when a second major earthquake suddenly rocked the car, he said, just as his family was taking a moment to fill up with fuel.
The Turkish language and literature teacher said, “We were caught eating during the earthquake. My daughter came out with a fork in her hand.” “Everyone was so scared. They went out barefoot.”
Dramatic video footage shows a Turkish news team reporting a massive early-morning earthquake before being forced to flee when a second quake struck.
The reporter was shown standing in a built-up street in the eastern city of Malatya, already covered in rubble and dust, as a small crowd of people surveyed the damage. Soon sirens wailed, screams were heard, and then a crashing roar rang out as crowds and reporting teams raced to safety. A cloud of dust rose around them.
Other footage from Turkish TV showed rescuers pulling a girl and boy – they are both covered in dust but alive – from under the rubble as a flurry of snow could be seen from a collapsed building. Appeared to be an apartment building.
Offers of help poured in from dozens of countries, as well as the European Union and NATO, promising search and rescue teams, emergency funds and medical supplies.
President Joe Biden said he was “deeply saddened by the loss of life and property caused by the earthquake” and said the United States would “provide any and all assistance needed.”
The World Health Organization said it was helping a massive international effort to aid both countries.
Working in pitch darkness with only helmet flashlights to aid them in the bitterly cold and wet winter conditions, the volunteers searched through metal and concrete for those trapped under the rubble.
Rescue workers said strained health facilities and hospitals were quickly filled with the injured.
“Freezing temperatures have exposed thousands of people to extreme cold, and many are now without shelter,” said the aid group International Rescue Committee. There are fears buildings are collapsing as people sleep. that hundreds are still trapped in the rubble.”
Dramatic images have emerged of volunteers rescuing a child covered in mud from debris in the town of Zardana in the countryside of Syria’s northwestern Idlib province. Another Syrian man was depicted carrying the body of a dead girl in nearby Ajmarin, still wearing her striped pink and green stockings.
The USGS noted that dwellings in this area are often built of earthquake-sensitive materials, including unreinforced brick masonry and low-rise concrete frame structures without ductwork.
“Overall, the region’s population lives in structures extremely vulnerable to earthquake shaking,” according to the USGS analysis.
The region is seismically active, the USGS said, and the initial quake appeared to be in the vicinity of a triple-junction of tectonics between the Anatolia, Arabia and Africa plates.
Turkey lies on top of major fault lines and is frequently shaken by earthquakes; In 1999, powerful earthquakes struck northwestern Turkey, killing 18,000 people.
