Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/ANKARA: A powerful earthquake hit Gaziantep in south-eastern Turkey, near the border with Syria causing the death of at least five citizens, initial reports suggest.
The US Geological Survey said that the 7.8 magnitude tremor struck at 04:17 local time at a depth of 17.9km near the city of Gaziantep. The quake was felt in the Turkey capital Ankara and other Turkey cities, and also across the region.
Many buildings and houses have collapsed, and there are reports of citizens being trapped.
Earthquake Hit 10 cities
Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said 10 cities including Gaziantep, Hatay, Hatay, Osmaniye, Malatya, Adiyaman, Sanliurfa, Adana, Kilis, and Diyarbakir were affected.
A BBC Turkey correspondent in Diyarbakir, north-east of Gaziantep, reported that the shopping mall in the city collapsed. The tremor was felt in Syria, Cyprus, and Lebanon.
A BBC producer in the Gaza Strip, Rushdi Abualouf, said that there were about forty-five seconds of shaking in the home he was staying in. Turkey seismologists estimated the strength of the quake to be 7.4 magnitudes.
They said a second tremor hit the region just minutes later. Turkey lies in one of the global active earthquake zones. In 1999, more than 17,000 citizens were killed after a powerful tremor rocked the country’s northwest.
