Rescuers search for victims among the rubble of a building collapsed by the earthquake in Diyarbakir, Turkey, on February 6, 2023.


Photo: Mahmut Bozarslan / AFPTV

A magnitude 7.8 earthquake was recorded early Monday morning in Turkey, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported on its website.

The epicenter of the quake, which had a depth of 10 kilometers, was located 23 kilometers east of the Turkish city of Nurdagi, in the province of Gaziantep.

Subsequently, several aftershocks were recorded in the same area, in particular three of 6.7, 5.6 and 5.1.

For its part, the Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Center (CSEM) reported that the earthquake had a magnitude of 7.8, with the epicenter located 30 kilometers from the city of Gaziantep (south), near the border with Syria.

Local authorities report that the earthquake and its seventeen aftershocks have caused at least 5 fatalities, as well as the destruction of 34 buildings, where several people could have been trapped.

The Turkish Disaster and Management Authority (AFAD) announced that the quake had a magnitude of 7.4, according to a statement posted on its website.

Recordings showing the serious effects of the quake have appeared on social networks, particularly rubble from collapsed buildings, some of them in the city of Kahramanmarash.

Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu declared that a level four alert has been issued in the affected region, reports the Yeni Safak newspaper.

Erdogan's reaction

It also reports that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has contacted the Governor of Kahramanmarash, Ömer Faruk Coskun.

"I convey my best wishes to all our citizens who were affected by the earthquake that occurred in Kahramanmarash and was felt in many parts of our country," Erdogan wrote on his official Twitter account, detailing that all relevant units are on alert. under the coordination of AFAD.

Likewise, the president explained that search and rescue teams were immediately sent to the areas affected by the earthquake.

"We hope to get through this disaster together as soon as possible and with as little damage as possible," he concluded.

According to LBCI Lebanon English, the earthquake has been felt in Syria, Lebanon, Cyprus, Iraq and Iran.

The Syrian agency SANA specifies that the quake was felt in the provinces of Damascus, Latakia, Aleppo and Hama and other areas of the Arab nation.

"This earthquake is the strongest recorded by the national seismic monitoring network since its creation in 1995," said Raed Ahmed, general director of the National Seismic Monitoring Center, who predicted new aftershocks, although he specified that they will be less intense.

The Syrian Civil Defense called on the population to leave the residential buildings and move away to open places, as well as to inform the authorities about possible people trapped under the rubble.

On November 23, a magnitude 6.0 earthquake shook the western part of Turkey (epicenter 14 kilometers from the city of Düzce), leaving a total of 93 injured, seventeen of whom had to be hospitalized.