Turkey-Syria earthquake: As it happened

A new earthquake of 7.5 magnitude has hit Turkey, the United States Geological Survey reports.

Since the first, which struck early this morning and measured 7.8, there have been several aftershocks. This new earthquake was reportedly felt as far as Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the death toll in his country has risen to 912, with that number expected to rise as casualties are discovered.

The Syrian government has revised its toll to 326, which is believed to only include areas held by forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad.

Raed al-Saleh, director of the Syrian Civil Defence, a search-and-rescue group in rebel-held Syria known as the White Helmets, told Middle East Eye 147 people had been killed in opposition areas.

"The number of deaths is likely to increase dramatically as hundreds of families are under the rubble. Hundreds of houses have been destroyed," Saleh told Harun al-Aswad.

"The Civil Defence is in a state of complete emergency and yet we are unable to respond due to the horror of the disaster. We appeal to international organisations and bodies to intervene urgently to help save civilians, any second means saving the lives of dozens of civilians." 

Middle East Eye’s Ankara bureau chief, Ragip Soylu, sends an update from Turkey as rescue teams race to find survivors:

“Turkey’s disaster management agency Afad and the Turkish military have mobilised all their units to transport humanitarian aid to the quake-hit region.

The mayors of Istanbul and Ankara, Ekrem Imamoglu and Mansur Yavas, also announced they were sending aid convoys to the damaged cities.

However, Suzan Sahin, an MP from Hatay, said in televised comments that the situation in the border city is grim, as search and rescue teams still haven’t been able to reach it.

Hatay and Kahramanmaras have been severely hit by the quake, and the runway in Hatay’s only airport, as well as roads leading into the city, have been badly damaged, cutting them off from the rest of Turkey.

Social media is full of Turkish people posting maps and the addresses of their loved ones who are under the rubble and waiting for emergency services.

There is high expectation that the death toll will significantly rise, since there are hundreds of buildings that are yet to be reached by rescue teams.”

Shocking images of widespread damage have been flooding social media.

One video appears to show a building in east Aleppo collapsing. The city's eastern neighbourhoods have been badly damaged by the Syrian war.

Gaziantep's famous castle, founded by the Hittites and developed by the Romans and Byzantines, appears to have almost completely collapsed.

Meanwhile, the quake has torn through roads and Hatay airport's runway:

The 7.8 magnitude earthquake's epicentre appeared to be Turkey's Hatay province, which includes the city of Gazientep, whose ancient castle collapsed.

The Turkish cities of Diyarbakir, Sanliurfa, Osmaniye, Kahramanmaras and Iskanderun, among others, were also hit.

In Syria, damage and deaths were recorded in the provinces of Idlib, Aleppo, Latakia, Tartus and Hama.

Tremors were felt as far away as Cyprus, Lebanon, Iraq and Egypt 

A massive earthquake has torn through central Turkey and northwestern Syria, killing at least 500 and leaving thousands injured.

Hundreds of buildings have collapsed in the two countries.

At least 284 people died in Turkey and over 2,300 people were injured, Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said. 

In Syria, over 237 people were killed and at least 600 injured, a Syrian government health official said as the quake struck the provinces of Aleppo, Latakia and Hama. 

Read more here: 

Hundreds killed by earthquake in Syria and Turkey