By Kevin Zhang
The death toll from a strong earthquake in southeast Turkey near the Syrian border has reached 3,400. Confirmed deaths have increased rapidly since the first earthquake early on Monday morning.
Around 12 hours later, another powerful quake hit a location further north.
Rescuers have been searching through rubble piles in cities in freezing and snowy conditions in order to find survivors.
Countries around the world are sending support in the form of specialist rescue teams, dogs, and equipment.
The U.S. Geological Survey said that the earthquake of 7.8 magnitude struck at about 4:17 local time at a depth of around 18 kilometers near the Turkish city of Gaziantep.
Seismologists said the first quake was one of the largest to ever occur in Turkey, and survivors have said that the shaking following the quake lasted over two minutes.
The second quake was triggered by the first and had a magnitude of 7.5, with its epicenter at the Elbistan district of Kahramanmaras province. Aftershocks are still being felt across the region.
The death toll from the quakes in both Turkey and Syria have increased rapidly throughout the day, and the World Health Organization has warned that those numbers are likely to increase as much as eightfold as rescuers find more victims in the rubble.
“We always see the same thing with earthquakes, unfortunately, which is that the initial reports of the numbers of people who have died or who have been injured will increase quite significantly in the week that follows,” said Catherine Smallwood, WHO’s senior emergency officer for Europe. She added that the snowy conditions during rescue operations will leave many people without shelter, increasing the level of danger.
