Turkish soldiers and other first responders try to help victims at the site of a collapsed building in Diyarbakir, Turkey, after an earthquake hit the country early Monday. According to the U.S. Geological Service, an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.8 struck southeast Turkey close to the Syrian border. The earthquake caused buildings to collapse and sent shockwaves over northwest Syria, Cyprus and Lebanon. Photo by Deniz Tekin/EPA-EFE
Feb. 6 (UPI) — A powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck southeastern Turkey early Monday, toppling buildings in the country as well as in nearby Syria with dozens likely dead.
The temblor hit at 4:17 a.m. local time near the city of Gaziantep and Turkey’s southern border with Syria, the U.S. Geological Survey said, warning “significant casualties are likely.”
Italy is also warning of a possible tsunami for its coastal areas, urging residents to move to higher ground.
The earthquake’s epicenter was the Pazarcik district of Kahramanmaras Province, Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Agency said, though it was registered provinces away.
Hatay, Adana, Osmaniye, Diyarbakir, Malatya and Sanliurfa were among those it said felt the earthquake “intensely.”
Gov. Salih Ayhan of Sanliurfa Province told state-run Anadolu news agency that at least 15 people in the province are dead and another 30 were injured due to the quake.
He earlier tweeted that buildings had been destroyed by the “severe and long-lasting” earthquake.
In Malatya, Gov. Hulusi Sahin said 23 people had died with another 420 injured, Anadolu reported, adding that at least 140 buildings had been destroyed.
The government of Malatya had also reported “serious destruction” in its capital city.
In Kahramanmaras Province, Gov. Omer Faruk Coskun said it wasn’t possible to offer a casualty count at the moment, stating “the damage is serious.”
In Gaziantep Province, Gov. Davut Gul tweeted that the earthquake was “severely” felt in the provincial capitol.
“Please, let’s wait without panicking,” he urged via Twitter. “Let’s not use our cars. Let’s leave the main roads empty. Let’s not keep the phones busy.”
The Disaster and Emergency Management Agency said the country has called upon the Europe’s Emergency Response Coordination Center for help with urban search and rescue.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the public all relevant authorities have been put on alert and search and rescue teams were immediately dispatched to affected regions.
“We hope that we will get through this disaster together as soon as possible and with the lease damage,” he tweeted.
Additional blood supplies were also being shipped by the Turkish Red Cross to affected regions, with citizens countrywide being encouraged to donate plasma “for additional needs that may occur in the future,” the organization’s head, Kerem Kinik, said.
In nearby Syria, the civil defense organization reported several residential buildings in the country’s northwest near the Turkey border had collapsed, trapping dozens under rubble.
A state of emergency has been declared to aid in the rescuing of those stranded, it said in a statement.
The volunteer organization has called on residents to evacuate buildings and seek open spaces.
“Disastrous conditions, collapses in residential buildings and the presence of victims trapped under the rubble,” it said. “Our teams are on the highest levels of alert to respond and rescue the trapped.”
There have been at least 17 registered aftershocks, with the USGS rating the most powerful at a magnitude of 6.7.