Deadly earthquake hits Turkey and Syria

A deadly earthquake hit Turkey and Syria this Monday morning, killing more than 7,000 and leaving thousands injured.  This is the most powerful earthquake to take place in nearly a century. Aljeera has reported that more than 5,894 people died in Turkey while 2,032 people died in Syria and the effects of the earthquake was felt all the way to Greenland, travelling quite a distance.

This 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck at 04:17 local time at a depth of 17.9 km near the city of Gaziantep, Turkey. Just twelve hours later, a second earthquake of 7.5 magnitudes hit Turkey’s Elbistan district of Kahramanmaras province. While many might assume the second earthquake was an aftershock, it was an independent earthquake that occurred after the first one. 

With thousands of people dead, and many left injured, the actual death toll is still uncertain as rescuers are still working hard to search for survivors who might be stuck under the rubble.

“Many buildings in different cities and villages in north-western Syria collapsed. Still, now, many families are under the rubble. We are trying to save them but it's a very hard task for us. We need help. We need the international community to do something, to help us, to support us. North-western Syria is now a disaster area. We need help from everyone to save our people," - A volunteer in his interview with BBC

This earthquake has left a major part of the city collapsed as buildings, shopping malls and even Turkey’s energy infrastructure has been left damaged due to the sheer force and magnitude of the earthquake.

With the Turkish Red Crescent now calling for citizens to make blood donations, efforts are underway to provide medical products needed in the affected regions. 

This natural disaster marks one of Turkey’s worst disasters in decades, leaving the country in dire need of assistance in order to overcome and recover from the amount of damage that the earthquake left on the city.