Powerful 7.8 quake knocks down buildings in Turkey and Syria

A almighty 7.8 magnitude earthquake deed southeast Turkey and Syria aboriginal Monday, toppling buildings and sending panicked residents pouring extracurricular successful a acold wintertime night. At slightest 31 were killed, and the toll was expected to rise.

Rescue workers and residents utilizing flashlights were searching done piles of tangled metallic and factual rubble successful 1 of the stricken cities. People connected the thoroughfare shouted up to others wrong a partially toppled flat building, leaning dangerously.

The quake, felt arsenic acold distant arsenic Cairo, was centered northbound of the metropolis of Gaziantep successful an astir 90 kilometers (60 miles) from the Syrian border. Along with respective cities, the country is location to location to millions of Syrian refugees who fled their country's long-running civilian war. Turkey, which borders Syria to the north, hosts the largest fig of Syrian refugees successful the world.

On the Syrian broadside of the border, the quake smashed opposition-held regions that are packed with respective cardinal displaced Syrians with a decrepit wellness attraction strategy aft years of war. At slightest 11 were killed successful 1 town, Atmed, and galore much were buried successful the rubble, a doc successful the town, Muheeb Qaddour, told The Associated Press by telephone.

"We fearfulness that the deaths are successful the hundreds," Qaddour said, referring to the rebel-held northwest. "We are nether utmost pressure."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said connected Twitter that "search and rescue teams were instantly dispatched" to the areas deed by the quake.

"We anticipation that we volition get done this catastrophe unneurotic arsenic soon arsenic imaginable and with the slightest damage," helium wrote.

There were astatine slightest 6 aftershocks, and Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu urged radical not to participate damaged buildings owed to the risks.

"Our precedence is to bring retired radical trapped nether ruined buildings and to transportation them to hospitals," helium said.

Tallies from assorted officials enactment the toll astatine at slightest 18 dormant successful Turkey and 13 successful Syria. At slightest 130 buildings tumbled down successful Turkey's Malatya province, Gov. Hulusi Sahin said.

In northwest Syria, the opposition's Syrian Civil Defense described the concern successful the rebel-held portion arsenic "disastrous" adding that full buildings person collapsed and radical are trapped nether the rubble. The civilian defence urged radical to evacuate buildings to stitchery successful unfastened areas. Emergency rooms were afloat of injured, said Rass.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was centered astir 33 kilometers (20 miles) from Gaziantep, a large metropolis and provincial capital. It was centered 18 kilometers (11 miles) deep, and a beardown 6.7 aftershock rumbled astir 10 minutes later.

Syria's authorities media reported that immoderate buildings collapsed successful the bluish metropolis of Aleppo and the cardinal metropolis of Hama.

In Damascus, buildings shook and galore radical went down to the streets successful fear.

The quake jolted residents successful Lebanon from beds, shaking buildings for astir 40 seconds. Many residents of Beirut near their homes and took to the streets oregon drove successful their cars distant from buildings.

The earthquake came arsenic the Middle East is experiencing a snowstorm that is expected to proceed until Thursday.

Turkey sits connected apical of large responsibility lines and is often shaken by earthquakes.

Some 18,000 were killed successful almighty earthquakes that deed northwest Turkey successful 1999.