An earthquake measuring 7.6 on the open Richter scale has shaken Turkey’s Kahramanmaras province on Monday, the epicenter hours earlier of a 7.4 magnitude quake that has left more than 1,300 dead in the country and neighboring Syria, officials have confirmed.
«An earthquake of magnitude 7.6 has taken place at 13.24 hours (local time) in the Elbistan district of Kahramanmaras province,» the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), under the Turkish Interior Ministry, has said through its account on the social network Twitter.
The earthquake came after dozens of aftershocks that followed the 7.4 magnitude quake registered during the early hours of the morning and affected the search and rescue work in the ten affected provinces. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed that more than 900 people have died and more than 5,300 have been injured.
In addition, Syrian authorities have confirmed about 240 dead and 640 wounded in areas under their control, while about 150 people have been killed and more than 340 wounded in rebel-held areas in the provinces of Idlib and Aleppo in the northwest of the Arab country, the Syrian Civil Defense, known as the ‘white helmets’, has said.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
