Ankara: Rescue workers are continuing to dig through the rubble of collapsed buildings, searching for survivors of a 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck southern Turkey and neighboring Syria, killing at least 4,940 people. The massive quake, one of the largest to strike the quake-prone area in the past century, is raising fears of a new humanitarian crisis in a region strained by years of war, displacement and economic hardship.
The earthquake happened early Monday in Kahramanmaras province, north of Gaziantep, near the Syrian border. It was felt as far away as Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and Egypt, and was followed by dozens of aftershocks, including an unusually powerful 7.5-magnitude quake, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
By Tuesday morning, Turkish authorities had recorded 3,381 deaths and 20,426 injuries, according to state media. In Syria, 769 people were killed and 1,448 injured, according to state media. An additional 790 people were reported dead by civil defense forces in the rebel-held northwest. The death toll is expected to climb.
Millions of people in northwest Syria — mostly women and children — were already in “dire need” of humanitarian aid before the disaster, according to the United Nations, amid a harsh winter and a cholera outbreak. Turkey has taken in about 3.5 million Syrian refugees in recent years, according to the U.N. refugee agency, many of them in places now devastated by the quake.
Aleppo’s ancient citadel, which is central to the Ancient City of Aleppo, the UNESCO World Heritage site, suffered a blow after Monday’s quake. Parts of an Ottoman mill inside of the citadel collapsed and portions of the northeast defense wall fell, Syria’s Directorate General of Antiquities and Museum said in a Facebook post. Portions of the citadel were also damaged during the Syrian civil war.
The citadel rises “above the souks, mosques and madrassas of the old walled city” and is a “testament to Arab military might from the 12th to the 14th centuries,” according to UNESCO. The architecture is a mix of Hittite, Hellenistic, Roman, byzantine and Ayyubid influences.
The National Museum of Aleppo’s facade was also lined with cracks, and some artifacts inside had been destroyed, the Syrian government agency said. In a later post, the organization noted that parts of Marqab Castle in western Syria had also sustained damage, including a circular tower on the north side of the structure.
Multiple airports in southern Turkey suspended civilian flights on Monday, Turkish Airlines said.
Airports in the cities of Gaziantep, Malatya and Kahramanmaras, which sustained some of the worst damage Monday from the earthquake, were only servicing flights offering rescue operations and humanitarian aid, according to the country’s flag carrier. It added that all flights at Hatay Airport were also suspended.
