Earthquake in Turkey: `Have Never Felt Anything Like it`, Says Survivor

The magnitude 7.8 earthquake, which was centered north of Gaziantep, a Turkish provincial capital, hit in the early morning and is said to be the worst to strike Turkey this century.

New Delhi: More than 1,400 people were killed and thousands injured on Monday (February 6, 2023) after a massive earthquake struck central Turkey. The magnitude 7.8 quake, which was centered north of Gaziantep, a Turkish provincial capital, hit in the early morning and is said to be the worst to strike Turkey this century. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said over 5,300 people sustained injuries, and that around 2,800 buildings had collapsed in Turkey. He said he could not predict how much the death toll would rise as search and rescue efforts continued.

"Everyone is putting their heart and soul into efforts although winter season, cold weather, and the earthquake happening during the night makes things more difficult," Erdogan said.

The powerful earthquake also wreaked havoc in war-torn Syria, where around 960 people have so far died in the disaster. 

The tremors were also felt in Cyprus and Lebanon. 

"I have never felt anything like it in the 40 years I've lived," news agency Reuters quoted Erdem, a resident of Gaziantep, as saying.

"We were shaken like a cradle," an injured Turkish woman said. 

"There were nine of us at home. Two sons of mine are still in the rubble, I'm waiting for them," she said while speaking in an ambulance near the wreckage of a seven-storey block where she had lived in Diyarbakir in southeast Turkey.

A 29-year-old Meryem from the southeastern Turkish city of Kahramanmaras, near the epicenter, said, "We woke up to a big noise and severe shaking. There were two aftershocks right after that."

"I was so scared, thought it will never stop. I took some things for my one-year-old son and left the building," Meryem added.

In the Turkish city of Adana, one resident said three buildings near his home were toppled. 

"I don't have the strength anymore," one survivor was heard calling out from beneath the rubble as rescue workers tried to reach him, said a resident.

Turkey's worst earthquake since 1999

Turkey is among the most earthquake-prone countries in the world. 

The earthquake on Monday was Turkey's most severe quake since 1999, when one of similar magnitude devastated Izmit and the heavily populated eastern Marmara Sea region near Istanbul, killing more than 17,000.

In 2011, a quake in the eastern city of Van killed more than 500.