One of the most powerful earthquakes to hit the Middle East in years has killed scores of people in Turkey and Syria and trapped hundreds more.
(Bloomberg) —
One of the most powerful earthquakes to hit the Middle East in years has killed scores of people in Turkey and Syria and trapped hundreds more.
Read More: The strong earthquake toppled buildings in Turkey and was felt elsewhere in the Middle East.
The quake struck before dawn with a magnitude of 7.7 and an epicenter near the Turkish city of Gaziantep. Authorities said 76 people were confirmed dead in Turkey and 237 in Syria with destruction concentrated in border areas that house millions of refugees.
State energy company Botas said there was no damage detected to crude oil pipelines which carry millions of barrels per day through the affected areas and connect Turkey with producers in Iraq and Azerbaijan. The Turkish lira was little changed at 18.8288 per dollar as of 9:03 a.m. in Istanbul.
Turkey’s stock exchange Borsa Istanbul halted trading of eight stocks until they make a statement on how their operations in the quake area in an exchange filing. The Borsa Istanbul 30 Futures Index was trading 1.4% lower as of 9:38 a.m. local time in Istanbul.
The disaster affected several Turkish provinces stretching hundreds of kilometers, where millions are bracing for colder winter temperatures. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is facing general elections in May, dispatched several cabinet ministers to the area.
It was at least the strongest earthquake in Turkey since twin tremors struck the northwest in 1999 and killed about 18,000 people. The country lies in one of the world’s most active seismic zones and is crossed by numerous fault lines. In 2011 a smaller quake killed nearly 700 people in the eastern city of Van.
In Pictures: Major Earthquake Strikes Turkey, Syria
Rescue workers were trying to save people in collapsed apartment buildings in several Turkish provinces along the border with Syria, the Turkish government said. Scores of buildings had collapsed and some highways were damaged as shocks were felt as far as Lebanon, Cyprus, Iraq, Egypt and Israel.
Turkey’s Kandilli observatory revised the magnitude of the quake to 7.7 from 7.4 registered earlier Monday.
Those dead were in six Turkish provinces including Sanliurfa, Osmaniye, Diyarbakir and Malatya, the country’s disaster management authority said, adding that 440 people were injured. In Syria at least 111 people were killed and 516 were injured, the official news agency SANA said.
The US was assessing options to help the most affected, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in a statement, citing orders by President Joe Biden.
“We have activated a fourth level alert, this entails international help,” Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu told a televised news conference in Ankara.
Turkey hosts the biggest refugee population in the world and many of the 3.7 million registered Syrian refugees are concentrated in areas affected by the quake.
–With assistance from Patrick Sykes.
(Updates with Syria death toll in second paragraph)
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