The death toll has now reached 3,000 in Turkey and Syria, from the powerful 7.8 degrees earthquake which occurred in southeastern Turkey today and was felt as far as Egypt and Iraq. According to the updated data, 1,121 people died in Southern Turkey and 783 in Syria.

According to Turkey’s emergency rescue service, so far there are at least 7,634 injured and 2,834 buildings have been destroyed. The agency said 120 aftershocks have been recorded.

Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in an official briefing that he could not estimate how much the number of deaths could rise as search and rescue operations were ongoing. So far 45 countries have offered aid to Turkey, he noted. The number of people rescued from the rubble reached 2,470.

Erdogan spoke about the “largest earthquake that Turkey has seen in the last century” and that “So far, 912 citizens have lost their lives and 5,385 citizens have been injured. In our provinces where the earthquake caused severe damage, the activities of locating and rescuing our citizens trapped under the collapsed buildings continue unabated.”

Canlı yayında deprem anı

🔴 Kahramanmaraş ili Elbistan ilçesinde saat 13.24’te 7,6 büyüklüğünde bir deprem daha meydana geldi.

— Yeni Şafak (@yenisafak) February 6, 2023

“The number of people rescued from the rubble reached 2,470. The number of buildings that collapsed is 2,818. Our country has also started to establish contacts for international aid. In addition to NATO and the EU, we have received offers of assistance from 45 countries,” he said.

There is a great risk that these figures will continue to increase at a rapid pace, considering the fact that apartment buildings have collapsed in cities such as Adana, Gaziantep, Sanliurfa, and Diyarbakir. In Iskenderun and Antiyaman, public hospitals collapsed.

Kahramanmaraş merkezli 7.7 şiddetindeki deprem Şanlıurfa’yı da vurmuştu! Kurtarma çalışmalarının sürdüğü sırada bir deprem daha meydana geldi. O anlar canlı yayına anbean yansıdı.

— Hürriyet.com.tr (@Hurriyet) February 6, 2023

“My sister and her three children are under the rubble. As is her husband, father-in-law, and mother-in-law. Seven members of our family are under the rubble,” a Turkish citizen told AFP, watching the search and rescue operation in front of an apartment building that turned into a shapeless mass in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir. “Her sister is still trapped in the debris,” said a woman pointing to another who was crying inconsolably.

In #Kahramanmaras the moment #earthquake rocking #Turkey recorded by security camera of a pharmacy. #deprem #PrayForTurkey pic.twitter.com/6oNPPQHEnY

— JournoTurk (@journoturk) February 6, 2023

The US promised to provide aid to earthquake victims, as the British newspaper “Daily Mail” writes.

As soon as the earth began to shake, people jumped out of their beds in sheer terror with many spending the night in their cars.