News in the video: Hundreds dead in severe earthquake on the Turkish-Syrian border.
STORY: Hundreds of people died in a severe earthquake in the border region between Turkey and Syria on Monday. In southern Turkey alone, more than 280 people died and over 2,300 were injured. Several provinces are affected and experts assume that the numbers will continue to rise sharply. More than 230 dead and around 600 injured were also counted in north-west Syria, according to health authorities. A man in Djindires, Syria, which is around 50 kilometers north-west of Aleppo on the border with Turkey, was in despair in the morning hours: “Twelve families are trapped here. And nobody can get out. They’re all in here. See you no one’s there to check on people yet. There’s no civil defense. We’ve only been working with our hands since three in the morning.” The tremors lasted about a minute and were felt as far away as Israel, Cyprus and Lebanon in the early hours of the morning. In Syria, as here in Turkey, numerous houses collapsed and rescuers searched for survivors in the rubble. The tremors in the early morning had a magnitude of 7.8, according to the US earthquake agency. The epicenter was near the southern Turkish city of Gaziantep. The US earthquake observatory also registered several aftershocks. Earthquakes, some of which have serious consequences, occur again and again in Turkey. In 1999, more than 17,000 people died in a magnitude 7.6 earthquake. The first offers of help came from Germany, Israel and the USA, among others. Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Twitter that her thoughts are with the relatives of the victims and everyone who feared for their family, friends and neighbors.