Earthquake in Turkey and Syria – the news: death toll rises to 1800

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Rescuers in Syria's Al-Hamah: There are hundreds dead

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FIRAS MAKDESI / REUTERS

This article will be continuously updated.

International community wants to send help

2:48 p.m .:

The international community has promised Turkey and Syria support after the devastating earthquakes.

"Germany will of course send help," tweeted Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD).

"We mourn with the relatives and fear for those buried." Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) promised: "We will quickly get help on the way with our partners."

The USA, Ukraine, Italy and Greece, which is in conflict with Turkey, have also announced that they want to send help.

Eyewitness accounts:

"We thought this was the apocalypse"

2:36 p.m .:

The 7.7 magnitude earthquake left devastation and many deaths in Turkey and Syria.

The AFP news agency spoke to a 30-year-old woman in the eastern Turkish city of Dyarbakir.

"I felt the tremor so strongly because I live at the top of the house," Tulin Akkaya said.

Akkaya was just gathering up what was left of her life when the second violent tremor shook her house

Large parts of the region are now cut off from gas and electricity.

The weather service has announced rain for the rest of the week in south-eastern Turkey.

"Having lived in an earthquake-prone area, I'm used to earthquakes," reporter Melisa Salman told AFP in Kahramanmaras.

“But that was the first time I've experienced something like this.

We thought this was the apocalypse."

Recommended reading: "It was a matter of time before something like this happened"

2:24 p.m .:

Experts have long expected that there could be severe earthquakes in the 700-kilometer earthquake zone, the East Anatolian Fault.

The current earthquake can be explained geologically by the collision of the continental plates of Africa and Arabia with the Eurasian plate, which has been going on for millions of years.

Learn more here.

Officials assume at least 1,800 deaths

2.15 p.m .:

After the devastating earthquake, official bodies assume at least 1800 deaths.

1,014 people have died in Turkey, according to the civil protection service Afad.

More than 7000 people were injured.

Thousands of buildings collapsed in the tremors in south-east Turkey alone.

Videos from several cities in the area showed partially completely destroyed streets.

In Syria, the death toll rose to more than 780, according to Deputy Health Minister Ahmed Dhamirijeh and the White Helmets rescue organization.

More than 2,200 people were injured in the disaster in the civil war country.

The extent is not yet completely clear, the number of deaths is repeatedly corrected upwards.

Turkey asks NATO partners for field hospitals and rescue teams

1:55 p.m .:

Turkey asks its NATO partners for support in the rescue and recovery work after the severe earthquake.

According to the alliance headquarters in Brussels, it needs emergency medical teams, emergency medical equipment and search and rescue teams that can work in difficult conditions.

Specifically, three field hospitals suitable for extreme weather conditions and personnel for their establishment are also named.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg had already announced in the morning that the Allies were in the process of mobilizing support.

He himself is in contact with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavuşoğlu.

"Unreserved solidarity with our ally Turkey after this terrible earthquake," declared Stoltenberg.

hba/svs/ptz/Reuters/dpa