Turkey Earthquake Death Victims Can be Tens of Thousands of People

ANKARA, potretkita.net - The earthquake that rocked northern Turkey and parts of Syria, Monday (6/2), brought down not a few buildings. 

PHOTOS FROM PARSTODAY.IR

Head of the Earthquake and Tsunami Center at the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) Dr. Daryono said the 7.8 magnitude earthquake shook at 08.17 WIB or 04.17 local time.

Iran's news website, parstoday.ir, said the massive earthquake damaged buildings in the provinces of Aleppo, Latakia, Hama and Tartus. The earthquake this time was said to be the strongest earthquake that shook the region since 1995.

Meanwhile, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) predicts that the death toll from Turkey to Syria could reach 10 thousand people. According to news from CNNIndonesia.com, the USGS recorded a 47 percent chance that between 100 and 1,000 people would die. Meanwhile, another 20 percent can reach between 10 thousand and 100 thousand.

This prediction is taken from modeling based on the history of earthquakes in the region. Estimates are also determined from consideration of the population that is most severely shaken and the vulnerability of structures in the most affected zones.

"A high casualty toll and major damage is likely and the disaster is likely to be widespread," said the USGS report, as quoted from the page cnnindonesia.com.

The nbcnews.com news site reported that until this afternoon there were still many people trapped in the ruins of the building. Residents are joining rescue teams to search for survivors in the frozen conditions, with the death toll expected to rise, as the extent of the devastation became apparent from the strong early morning quake.

The earthquake shook, said the news site, while people were still soundly in their beds. The tremors of the fempa were felt as far as Egypt and Cyprus.

Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority said the death toll had reached at least 1,014 in the country alone, with another 7,003 injured.

In Syria, where some 4 million people have been displaced by nearly 12 years of civil war, hundreds more have died in buildings that have been destroyed or weakened by bombing.

A number of local media reported that apart from public and citizen buildings, the Gaziantep Castle which is very famous in Turkey is also a body. Footage from local and social media showed part of the ancient castle, which sits atop a 6,000 year old ruined hill, which had collapsed from the side of the hill and was strewn across a nearby road.

Erdoğan said it was the biggest disaster in the country since 1939. According to him, about 2,818 buildings collapsed as a result of the earthquake and aftershocks.

"As efforts to remove debris continue on many buildings in the earthquake zone, we don't know how much the number of dead and injured will increase. Our hope is that we recover from this disaster with minimal loss of life,” he said.

Turkish television broadcasts also broadcast the heartbreaking events after the big earthquake. There is footage of rescue teams pulling a girl and boy, both covered in dust but alive, from under the rubble as snow is seen falling inside what appears to be a collapsed apartment building.

So far, no exact figures have been obtained for the dead and injured. Rescue workers are still working hard to dig up the rubble of the building and evacuate the victims.(*/mus; translated by google)