A strong earthquake of magnitude 7.7 has struck central Turkey. Buildings collapsed within minutes. Eyewitnesses said that in the first minutes they experienced the disaster and the scale of destruction.
In Pazardzhik, Turkey, residents are worried about those who found themselves under the destroyed buildings. Many are just impossible to get to. People who were able to get out of their homes are trying to get as far away from the buildings as possible.
Two of my friends are now under the rubble, we are trying to get to them,” said a local resident.
Waiting for dawn to evaluate the scale of the disaster
Another resident, Nihat Altundag, says that powerful tremors from the earthquake woke up his family:
“Outwardly, our house looks intact, but inside there are cracks. Buildings are destroyed around me, houses are burning. There are cracking buildings. A house collapsed 200 meters from where I am now. Thank God, our friends are safe, but we heard that there are people who cannot get out of their homes, and there are those who cannot be reached,” the man said.
Residents said that they were waiting with fear for the sun to rise to see the magnitude of the earthquake .People are all on the street, everyone is in fear.
Pazardzhik in ruins. The house where I live is not that high and was built according to anti-earthquake regulations so it didn't collapse. But there are still cracks on the walls. My neighbor broke his back jumping off his balcony during the earthquake and is now in the hospital,” said resident Hussein Satie.
Satie added that civilians were desperate to help dig their neighbors out from under collapsed buildings.
“We were shaken at least three times”Meanwhile, in Gaziantep, Turkey, a resident of Erdam told Reuters that he had never experienced an earthquake of such magnitude.
We were shaking at least three times very hard. Everyone is sitting in their cars or trying to drive out into open spaces away from buildings. I think that there is not a single person left at home in Gaziantep now,” Erdam said.
The main thing about the consequences of the earthquake
- As a result of the earthquake, which affected 10 cities (regions – Channel 24) of Kahramanmarash, an explosion and fire occurred on a gas pipeline in the village of Topbogazi, Kirikhan district of Hatay.
- In the province of Gaziantep, the earthquake damaged the castle, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Gaziantep fortress was built by the Romans in the 2nd century. In the early 2000s, the castle was restored.
- According to preliminary data, at least 360 people died and hundreds were injured in Turkey, 237 people were killed and 639 people were injured in Syria . Unfortunately, the number of injured and dead may increase.
- The aftershocks were felt by residents of other countries. So, the earthquake “touched” Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan and Israel.
