Turkey & Syria Earthquake Death Exceeds 1,000

A strong earthquake has struck southeastern Turkey near the Syrian border. So far reported at least 1,000 people have been dead in Syria and Turkey.

The death toll is rising rapidly in Turkey and Syria. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that 912 people have been killed and more than 2,000 people have been injured in Turkey so far.

On the other hand, the Syrian state news agency reported that at least 237 people were killed and more than 600 injured in the country.

The US Geological Survey said the earthquake had a magnitude of 7.8 and struck around 4:30 a.m. local time. Its depth was only 17.9 km near the city of Gaziantep.

The earthquake was also felt in the capital Ankara and other cities in Turkey. Apart from this, tremors were felt throughout the concerned area.

Various reports say that many buildings have collapsed and many people are trapped inside.

Turkish Interior Minister Suleiman Saylu said 10 cities were affected. These are Gaziantep, Kahramanmaras, Hatay, Osmaniye, Adiaman, Malatya, Sanliurfa, Adana, Diyarbakir and Kilis.

Tremors were also felt in neighboring Syria, Lebanon and Cyprus.

Rescue workers are working to rescue those trapped under the rubble in the city of Diyarbakır

"I was writing something and suddenly the whole building started shaking. I didn't understand what was happening," said Mohamed Er Chama, a teacher in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

"I was standing next to the windows and I was afraid they were going to break. It went on for about 4-5 minutes and the whole thing was terrifying. It was unprecedented."

The BBC's Turkey correspondent in Diyarbakir said a shopping mall in the city had collapsed.

Rushdie Abualouf, a BBC producer based in the Gaza Strip, said the tremors were felt in the house where he lives for about 45 seconds.