At least 395 people died and hundreds were injured in a massive earthquake that hit Syria on Monday centered on Turkey, causing buildings in several governorates to collapse right on top of their residents, while hundreds of families are still under the rubble. . In areas controlled by the Syrian government, at least 248 people have been killed and 700 injured, according to new, non-conclusive figures announced by Assistant Health Minister Ahmed Damiriyah to the official Syrian News Agency (SANA). . The authorities consistently announce the number of victims, and the search for survivors under the rubble continues. Most injuries were recorded in the governorates of Latakia and Tartus (west), Aleppo (north) and Hama (center).
AFP correspondents in Syria have seen hundreds of families flee their homes and take to the streets fearing the aftermath of the aftershocks in Damascus, Aleppo, Latakia and Hama. The official Syrian News Agency (SANA) reported that an eight-story building collapsed in the Al-Arbaeen district of the city of Hama, noting that ambulance and civil defense teams are working to pull the injured and wounded from under the rubble.
“This earthquake is the strongest … since 1995,” Raed Ahmed, director general of the National Seismological Center, was quoted as saying by the agency. State television reported the collapse and damage to a number of buildings in the cities of Latakia and Jable on the Syrian coast.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad held an “emergency meeting” of the government “to discuss the damage from the earthquake that hit the country and the necessary measures,” according to published presidential platforms. And the Ministry of Defense mobilized “all its units, formations and institutions in all provinces to provide immediate and urgent assistance to the victims of the earthquake, as well as to search for people who fell under the rubble and provide assistance to the victims.”
And in areas controlled by jihadist and opposition groups in northern and northwestern Syria, the White Helmets Organization (civil defense operating in areas not controlled by Damascus) counted 147 dead and more than 340 injured in “uncertain statistics.” “The number of deaths is likely to increase dramatically because hundreds of families are under the rubble,” she said.
The organization declared the area “completely affected”, calling on local organizations to mobilize their staff and share the work in harsh climate conditions. He called on “all international humanitarian organizations to intervene promptly to assist the victims and meet their needs.” The organization released photographs and video clips of its members transporting victims, leaving destroyed or badly damaged buildings in their wake.
And at Al-Rahma Hospital in the city of Darkoush in Idlib province (northwest), Majid Ibrahim, a general surgeon, told AFP that the hospital had received “thirty dead and about a hundred injured”, referring to “a very bad situation, with many people under the rubble residential buildings.”
Photographers from Agence France-Presse in opposition-controlled areas in Idlib and Aleppo reported on disastrous conditions and families waiting for news of their members, while rescuers were busy transporting the wounded and recovering casualties from rubble. Years of war in Syria have left thousands of buildings cracked in several governorates, especially those that have seen heavy fighting and aerial bombardments. Repeated waves of displacement and extreme poverty are forcing many Syrians to live in damaged or nearly destroyed buildings. The 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit near Gaziantep in southeastern Turkey on Monday at 04:17 local time (01:17 GMT) at a depth of about 17.9 km, according to the US Geological Survey. The tremors were also felt in Lebanon and Cyprus, according to AFP correspondents.