BBC News Mundo
A powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck southeastern Turkey and northwestern Syria early Monday morning, killing at least 2,300 people in both countries and injuring a large number of others.
The earthquake left extensive areas devastated, where it is feared that dozens of people are trapped under the rubble.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called it "the worst disaster the country has experienced in the last century, after the 1939 earthquake in Erzincan.".
Hours later, a new earthquake of magnitude 7.5 struck the Turkish province of Kahramanmaras. Authorities said that this quake, which occurred around 1:30 p.m. local time (10:30 GMT), "was not an aftershock.".
So far, 1,500 deaths have been reported in Türkiye and 810 in Syria, for a total of 2,310 deaths.
This is what we know so far:
- So far at least 2,310 deaths have been reported.
- The magnitude 7.8 earthquake occurred near Gaziantep, in southern Turkey, close to the Syrian border, in the early hours of Monday while people were sleeping.
- Turkish state media report that more than 1,500 people died in Türkiye alone after the first earthquake, which also left more than 5,300 injured.
- Syrian authorities report 810 deaths, including those in areas controlled by Syrian rebels and those controlled by the Aleppo government. Nearly 2,000 injuries have also been reported.
- Rescuers are working frantically to save people trapped under rubble after hundreds of buildings collapsed in both countries.
- Several governments around the world pledged to send aid after Türkiye made an international appeal for help.
- Experts say that the weather conditions, with rain and sub-zero temperatures, will make rescue efforts difficult.
- Millions of people in Türkiye, Syria, Lebanon, Cyprus and Israel felt the earthquake.
Earthquake zone
According to the authorities' report, dozens of buildings collapsed and rescue teams are searching for survivors among large piles of rubble.
A BBC journalist reported that a shopping mall in the Turkish city of Diyarbakır completely collapsed.
Turkish Interior Minister Suleymon Soylu said that 10 cities were impacted: Gaziantep, Kahramanmaras, Hatay, Osmaniye, Adiyaman, Malatya, Sanliurfa, Adana, Diyarbakir and Kilis.
Türkiye stands out as one of the most earthquake-prone areas in the world.
Several experts noted that this earthquake is the strongest recorded by specialized observatories since 1939, when an earthquake of the same magnitude shook Türkiye and left more than 30,000 dead.
But it hasn't been the only one. In 1999, an earthquake struck the northwest of the country and left more than 17,000 people dead.
This is because most of the country is located on the Anatolian tectonic plate, which is situated between two major plates, the Eurasian and the African, and a smaller one, the Arabian.
As the two large plates shift, Türkiye is essentially being compressed, experts say.
This means that earthquakes and tremors are a fairly common experience. The country's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) recorded more than 22,000 in 2022.
Now, this morning's earthquake occurred in an area that is especially critical due to the number of refugees living there.
Turkey is the country with the largest number of refugees in the world with nearly three million, most of them having fled the bloody civil war in Syria.
The Israeli government was one of the first to comment on the emergency in Türkiye and announced the dispatch of humanitarian aid and personnel to assist in rescue efforts.
"I've never felt anything like this before."
A BBC Turkish Service journalist in Diyarbakir reported that a shopping mall in the city collapsed.
The earthquake was also felt in Lebanon, Cyprus and the Gaza Strip.
"I was writing something and suddenly the whole building started shaking and yes, I really didn't know what to feel," Mohamad El Chamaa, a student in Lebanon's capital, Beirut, told the BBC.
"I was right next to the window and I was scared it might break. It lasted about four or five minutes and it was pretty awful," she added.
Rushdi Abualouf, a BBC producer in the Gaza Strip, said he felt the tremor for about 45 seconds in the house where he was.
Meanwhile, a man told the BBC that he was convinced his family would die when the earthquake shook his fifth-floor apartment in the southern Turkish city of Adana.
Another man in Pazarcık, a city in southern Turkey near the epicenter, said his family had woken up to strong shaking and was waiting for dawn, in the middle of a very cold night, to inspect the damage.
"There are destroyed buildings all around me, there are houses on fire. There are buildings that are cracking. A building collapsed just 200 meters from where I am now," Nihat Altundağ said, in a report by The Guardian.
"Everyone is outside, everyone is scared.".
Syria also experienced hours of uncertainty following the powerful earthquake.
Several residents of the northern region of the country have described their fear and confusion during the earthquake.
"The paintings fell off the walls of the house," Samer, a resident of the Syrian capital, Damascus, told Reuters.
"I woke up terrified. Now we're all dressed and standing in the doorway.".
Snow and sub-zero temperatures
In addition to the devastating effect of the earthquake, rescue efforts in the coming days could be hampered by difficult weather conditions in some of the affected areas.
In the Turkish region around the epicenter of the first earthquake, heavy rains are expected, while temperatures will be only 3-4°C during the day and below zero for much of the night.
Between 3 and 5 cm of snow are also expected, while further north in Türkiye, heavier snowfall is expected.
In the more mountainous regions, temperatures are not expected to be above zero in the coming days, which could mean snowfall of 50-100 cm.
It is believed that at least 2,800 buildings were destroyed in this morning's first earthquake, meaning thousands of people could be left without shelter.
