Powerful quake leaves at least 3,800 dead in Turkey and Syria

Ruined residential buildings in Marash, Turkey.
(Image credit: Ahmet Akpolat/dia images via Getty Images)

The death toll from a 7.8-magnitude earthquake that hit Turkey on Monday morning continues to grow, with officials in Turkey and Syria saying at least 3,800 people were killed between the two countries.

Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Monday night that at least 2,379 people were killed in the country and 13,293 injured, with 5,600 buildings destroyed. In Syria, 1,450 people were killed and thousands injured, the state health ministry and White Helmets relief group said. There have been hundreds of aftershocks, including one with a 7.5 magnitude.

The quake was centered near Gaziantep in south central Turkey, and could be felt in Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, and Cyprus. Thousands of buildings have toppled in Turkey and Syria, and freezing temperatures, snow, damaged roads, and power outages are slowing down rescue efforts. Several international rescue teams are on their way to help or have already made it to the region, coming from Switzerland, Hungary, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

"This is a race against time and hypothermia," Mikdat Kadioglu, a professor of meteorology and disaster management at the Istanbul Technical University, told The New York Times. "People got caught in sleepwear and have been under the rubble for 17 hours."

The Syrian civil war has displaced more than 6.8 million people, and 3.6 million refugees are in Turkey, with many living in areas near the earthquake epicenter. The United Nations said it is having a hard time getting humanitarian help to the refugees it helps in northwestern Syria, and the organization is "looking to mobilize emergency funds in the region," Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesman for the U.N. secretary general, said. "The earthquake is expected to disrupt aid operations in northwestern Syria, given the impact on roads, the supply chains, and logistical facilities."

Some Syrians initially thought the ground was shaking on Monday morning because of a battle, not an earthquake. Osama Salloum, a doctor in Idlib, told the Times people "kept looking up to the sky for jets. My mind was playing tricks on me, telling me it was war again."

To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.