While rescue operations are underway and Turkish emergency services are trying to find survivors under the ruins of buildings, the country has been shaken by another earthquake, writes BBC.
A 7,5 magnitude earthquake shook Kahramanmaras province at 12:24 (1:24 p.m. local time), with its epicenter located approximately 130 kilometers from the epicenter of the first earthquake. Turkish services say it was not an aftershock.
Rescue work is hampered by weather conditions – heavy precipitation in the vicinity of the first earthquake, and the temperature is only three to four degrees above zero, and it is expected that frost will occur at night. In more mountainous areas, temperatures are not expected to rise above freezing in the coming days, which means that a thick layer of snow is possible. At least 2,800 buildings have collapsed and thousands of people have been left homeless.
Aftershocks continue in the quake-hit regions, and people are afraid to go inside buildings to get warmer clothes.
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Indian officials and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenber have reported that the countries and the alliance are ready to provide assistance. India is preparing to send 100 rescue personnel and specially trained dog units to Turkey. Other countries are also planning support measures.
The total number of dead has exceeded 1,800 people, and the number of injured continues to rise.
The earthquakes also caused serious damage to Turkey’s energy infrastructure, including gas pipelines in southern Turkey. These are the strongest earthquakes in Turkey in recent centuries.
Turkey is one of the countries in the world that is prone to earthquakes. In 1999, more than 17 thousand people died when a 7,6-magnitude earthquake hit Izmit. In 2011, the earthquake in Van took more than 500 lives.
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