A massive earthquake struck southern Turkey and northern Syria, causing buildings to collapse in several cities and killing more than 100 people.
Turkey’s disaster agency said 76 people were killed and 440 injured in the quake, which struck at 4.17 a.m. local time. According to the US Geological Survey, the intensity of the earthquake was measured at 7.8 on the Richter scale, whose epicenter was in Kahramanmaras province.
Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said in televised comments that Turkey was ready to accept international aid in response to the quake and had sent rescue teams with military and cargo planes carrying supplies to the area.
Syrian state media reported that 42 people were killed and 200 wounded in the northern provinces of Aleppo, Hama and Latakia.
In Turkey, 12 people were killed in the city of Sanliurfa, about 200 km east of the epicenter, broadcaster Haberturk quoted provincial governor Salih Ahan as saying. Haberturk said three bodies were recovered from some of the 140 buildings that collapsed in Malatya, 185 km to the northeast. Five people were killed in Osmania province, Reuters reported.
Buildings also collapsed in Diyarbakır and Adana provinces, officials said, indicating that the trail of affected areas stretched at least 500 km across southeast Turkey.
Television channels showed rescue workers digging through debris after snow fell in the town of Pajarsk, the epicenter of the quake.
According to witnesses, residents of several Turkish provinces ran into the streets overnight in near-freezing temperatures and in rain and snow.
Soylu said at least 22 aftershocks hit the region, with the most powerful measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale.
Turkey is crisscrossed by faultlines, and small tremors are an almost daily occurrence.
In 1999, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck Istanbul and surrounding provinces, killing more than 17,000 people.
