Turkey Earthquake Updates: Death Toll Crosses 2,600-mark in Turkey, Syria After Massive Quakes

All Turkish club football games have been postponed, the football federation announced in the wake of the earthquake that killed more than 2,400 people in the country and Syria on Monday. “All planned competitions have been postponed to a later date,” the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) tweeted.

The earthquake on Monday was the strongest earthquake in Turkey since 1939, when a powerful temblor struck eastern city of Erzincan and killed about 33,000 people, the report said quoting Okan Tuysuz, a professor of geology at Istanbul Technical University. Earlier in 1999, around 18,000 were killed, including about 1,000 in Istanbul, in powerful earthquakes that hit northwest Turkey. Duzce was one of the regions hit by the 7.4-magnitude earthquake, which was the worst to hit Turkey in decades.

Turkey’s Vice President Fuat Oktay announced that at least 1,541 people died, 9,733 were injured and 3,471 buildings were destroyed due to the massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake and following aftershocks that struck the country in the morning. The combined death toll now rose to 2,431 with 1,541 deaths in Turkey and 890 confirmed fatalities in Syria.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several other Indian politicians on Monday expressed condolences over the earthquake tragedy in Turkey and Syria in which over 2,300 have lost their lives. READ MORE

Temperatures in some areas were expected to fall to near freezing overnight, worsening conditions for people trapped under rubble or left homeless after a massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Turkey and neighbouring Syria, followed by a dozen aftershocks. Rain was falling on Monday after snowstorms swept the country at the weekend, according to a Reuters report.

Russian rescue workers will fly to Syria and Turkey the Kremlin said. President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone with Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and Turkey’s Tayyip Erdogan to express his condolences over the death and destruction due to the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit the region early morning. “Bashar al-Assad gratefully accepted this offer, and in the coming hours rescuers of the Russian emergencies ministry will fly to Syria,” the Kremlin said in a statement. “The Turkish president warmly thanked Vladimir Putin for such a prompt and sincere reaction and said that he was giving instructions to the competent authorities of the country to accept the help of Russian rescuers,” it said.

At a hospital in Syria, Osama Abdel Hamid was holding back tears as he recalled on Monday the powerful earthquake that toppled his home and killed his neighbours, along with hundreds of his compatriots. READ MORE

UK foreign minister James Cleverly said the country will send emergency response specialists, dogs and equipment to Turkey following the massive earthquake. Cleverly tweeted: “The UK is sending immediate support to Turkey including a team of 76 search & rescue specialists, equipment and rescue dogs.” The aid mission is expected to arrive around 9 pm local time (1800 GMT) in Gaziantep in south-eastern Turkey, according to a AFP report.

The Syrian government has urged the international community to come to its aid after more than 800 people died across the country following a 7.8-magnitude earthquake in neighbouring Turkey. “Syria appeals to member states of the United Nations… the International Committee of the Red Cross and other humanitarian” groups to support “efforts to face the devastating earthquake”, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The UN General Assembly held a minute of silence for those who died in the massive earthquake in Turkey and Syria.

Tremors from the powerful earthquake that rocked Turkey and neighbouring Syria on Monday were felt as far away as Greenland, the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland said. READ MORE

Overwhelmed hospitals in Syria are fighting amid limited infrastructure in the aftermath of the massive earthquake that hit neighbouring Turkey and Syria. In a hospital in Idlib city, Shajul Islam, a British doctor working with the non-governmental organization Medical Aid Syria, told AP it was the worst day in his seven years working in Syria. “I’m literally taking a patient off a ventilator to give another patient a chance, having to decide which patient has more of a chance of surviving or not,” Islam was quoted as saying.

The combined death toll rose to more than 2,300 for Turkey and Syria with authorities updating the figures to 1,498 deaths in Turkey and 810 confirmed fatalities in Syria, as per a AFP report.

A man stands in front of collapsed buildings following an earthquake in Kahramanmaras, Turkey. Ihlas News Agency (IHA) via REUTERS

A six-story building comes crashing down seconds after a massive earthquake killed nearly 1,900 people and injured thousands more in Central Turkey and northwest Syria. The building falls down like a deck of card, short-circuiting an electric pole and taking it down. A huge cloud of smoke and rubble float in the air as people run away from it. READ MORE

According to reports, a new earthquake – a major aftershock – has struck South Turkey. The tremors measured at 7.8 magnitude on the richter scale deal a shocking blow after hundreds were killed in a powerful earthquake of the same magnitude in southern Turkey and northern Syria early Monday. But what is an aftershock? READ MORE

US President Joe Biden said he was “deeply saddened” and promised his country’s assistance. “I am deeply saddened by the loss of life and devastation caused by the earthquake in Turkiye and Syria. I have directed my team to continue to closely monitor the situation in coordination with Turkiye and provide any and all needed assistance,” the president tweeted from his official account.

Condolences pored in from around the world after a massive earthquake hit Turkey, killing more than 1,800 people in the country and neighbouring Syria on Monday. READ MORE

The combined death toll due to the massive 7.8-magnitude earthquake has risen to 1,904 with authorities updating the figures to 1,121 deaths in Turkey and 783 confirmed fatalities in Syria, according to an AFP report. The quake was the region’s strongest quake in nearly a century.