A powerful earthquake has jolted southern parts of Turkey, near the Syrian border, killing more than 100 people and injuring many others trapped in piles of rubble.
According to the United States Geological Survey, a high magnitude of 7.8 tremor truck at the depth of 17.9km near the city of Gaziantep at 04:17 local time.
Turkish officials have confirmed that more than 76 people have died so far and ten cities were rocked, including Diyarbakir.
Meanwhile in Syria, more than 50 people were killed and many others injured, state media reported. Apparently, the death toll will most likely rise in the coming hour as the powerful earthquake has hit several cities in Syria and Turkey respectively.
The rescue teams have been deployed to search for survivors under the rubble as many buildings have collapsed, including a shopping mall in Diyarbakir city.
According to the Turkish Interior Ministry, at least ten cities were affected including Gaziantep, Kahramanmaras, Hatay, Osmaniye, Adiyaman, Malatya, Sanliurfa, Adana, Diyarbakir, and Kilis.
The tremor of the horrific earthquake was also felt in Lebanon and Cyprus.
“The shaking continued for about four to five minutes, and I was extremely terrified to witness such an incident,” a local Lebanese resident in the capital Beirut, told the BBC.
Turkey is situated in one of the world’s most active earthquake zones, and the country has experienced serval such devastating tremors in the past. In 1999, more than 17,000 people were killed after a powerful tremor rocked the northwest of the country.
