WORLD NEWS
Turkey earthquake: how many people have died? How many are injured?
Early on Monday an earthquake struck Turkey with devastating force and one that had far reaching effects away from the epicentre.
**This story is developing: follow the latest on the Turkey earthquake with our live updates**
Another natural disaster has claimed hundreds of lives. The world woke up on Monday to the tragic news that a 7.9-magnitude earthquake had hit central Turkey and northwest Syria. According to Turkey’s Vice President Fuat Oktay, the death toll had risen to 284 from an earthquake which shook Turkey’s south, with 2,323 people injured, Vice President Fuat Oktay told a news conference.
Death toll rising after Turkey earthquake
Oktay said 70 people were killed in the province of Kahramanmaras, where the quake epicenter was located, along with 20 people in Osmaniye, 18 in Sanliurfa, 14 in Diyarbakir and 13 in Adiyaman. But as buildings collapsed across the snowy region, the numbers of those affected is expected to continue to rise, with some reports now stating the number of dead as over 500.
Rescuers said the earthquake had left dozens dead and hundreds wounded in opposition-held parts of Syria, already battered by nearly 12 years of war. The White Helmets said the earthquake has “resulted in hundreds of injuries, dozens of deaths, and people being stranded in the winter cold”.
Other nations have also been affected, although word came in from Russia’s defence ministry to say that its military facilities had not been damaged by the earthquake. Russia, which is closely allied with the Syrian government led by President Bashar al-Assad, maintains a significant military presence in the country.
Italian authorities have said that they had withdrawn a tsunami warning for the country’s southern coast that was raised after the earthquake struck. Italy’s Civil Protection Department had issued a statement recommending people to move away from coastal areas but later reduced the alert and tweeted that it had been withdrawn. Train traffic in the southern regions of Sicily, Calabria and Apulia had been temporarily halted as a precaution but resumed in the morning, the agency said in the statement.