Earthquake in Turkey and Syria Kills At Least 2,500 People

• The full scale of the infrastructure damage is yet to be fully known, the initial assessment has been devastating
• In Turkey alone, nearly 3,000 buildings have collapsed, . 

More than 2,500 people have been killed as a result of two major earthquakes, and thousands more have been injured, when a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck southeastern Turkey and northwestern Syria early Monday morning local time. A second quake, which recorded a magnitude of 7.5, struck just 9 hours later.  

According to the foreign news agencies, the initial earthquake struck the southern Turkish city of Gaziantep, roughly 150 miles away from the Turkey-Syria border, at 4:17 a.m. local time at a depth of about 11 miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The second earthquake, the epicenter of which was roughly 80 miles north of Gaziantep in Turkey’s Kahramanmaras province, struck at 1:24 p.m. local time and was six miles deep, according to USGS.  

At least 120 aftershocks have taken place in southern Turkey, according to the country’s Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD).  

In a tweet, U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Susan Hough likened the size of the initial earthquake in Turkey to San Francisco’s Great Earthquake of 1906, which left more than 3,000 dead and much of the city in ruins.  
The death toll has been staggering and has surpassed 2,500 people—figures that are almost certain to rise as search and rescue efforts continue. The death toll in Turkey currently stands at 1,541, according to Vice President Fuat Oktay, and 9,733 people have been injured in the country. The death toll in Syria so far is 968, with 538 deaths reported by the Syrian Arab News Agency in government controlled areas. The White Helmets have reported 390 deaths in opposition-controlled areas. At least 2,403 people have been injured in Syria following the quakes.  

While the full scale of the infrastructure damage is yet to be fully known, the initial assessment has been devastating. In Turkey alone, nearly 3,000 buildings have collapsed, according to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. One airport runway serving the southern part of the country tore open.   

SL offers assistance to Quake victims

Foreign Minister Ali Sabry has offered assistance of rescue services to the Foreign Minister of Turkey following the two massive earthquakes that struck the country yesterday, the President’s Media Division said.   
The offer has been made on the instructions of President Ranil Wickremesinghe.     

All nine Sri Lankans in quake-affected areas are safe- Embassy

By Sunil Jayasiri

All nine Sri Lankans who were in earthquake-affected areas of Turkey are safe and eight of them have already been traced as they have contacted the Sri Lankan embassy in Ankara, officials said.   

“Although the ninth person, who lives in a building that had reportedly collapsed due to the quake, was not there at the time of the incident, but we are still unable to contact him,” an embassy spokesman told Daily Mirror last evening.  

The spokesman also said that as of last evening, embassy officials were working on obtaining details through the disaster management agency and other agencies working in the area about the whereabouts of the ninth Sri Lankan national. “We believe that the ninth person is safe,” the spokesman added.