Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Feb 7: An earthquake of 5.6-magnitude struck the central Turkey region on Tuesday, hours after three devastating earthquakes hit Turkey and Syria on Monday, which killed at least 4000 people. Thousands more are injured and the search for survivors is on as the death toll is expected to rise.
More details are awaited.
The epicentre of the first earthquake was near Nurdagi in Gaziantep province, the Syrian border. The other two quakes struck in the nearby Kahramanmara province. Many aftershocks rocked the two countries since the initial quake. In the first 11 hours, the region had felt 13 significant aftershocks with a magnitude of at least 5, said Alex Hatem, a USGS research geologist. Another strong quake magnitude 7.5 hit Turkey nine hours after the main jolt, followed by a third one of magnitude 6.0.
Meanwhile, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has declared seven days of national mourning during which the Turkish flags will fly at half-staff across the nation and at its diplomatic missions overseas.
Nearly 13,000 personnel and members of Turkish emergency services have left for the earthquake-hit regions, including the Syrian border province of Hatay, said Istanbul Governor Ali Yerlikaya, as per the news organisation Sabah.
NDRF Search and Rescue Teams, specially trained dog squads, medical supplies, drilling machines and other equipment from India left for Turkey early morning today.
