NB BUREAU
More than 4300 people lost their lives and over thousands are still unaccounted for as Turkey and Syria are ripped through by the powerful earthquake on Monday Morning, media reported.
Rescuers are still pulling up the survivors from beneath the rubble as the two countries recorded over 60 powerful aftershocks including the major 7.8 magnitude earthquake on Monday.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared seven days of national mourning.
Governments and international organisations from around the world have responded with offers of support.
The quake, one of the strongest to hit the region in more than 100 years, struck 23 kilometers (14.2 miles) east of Nurdagi, in Turkey’s Gaziantep province, at a depth of 24.1 kilometers (14.9 miles), the US Geological Survey said.
CNN, quoting Turkey’s head of disaster services, Yunus Sezer, reported that at least 2,921 people were killed in Turkey and more than 15,800 others injured
In neighboring Syria, at least 1,451 people have died.
