Ankara: At least fifty people were killed on Monday after a strong earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale struck Turkey's Gaziantep city near the country's border with Syria, authorities said.
Gaziantep is one of Turkey's key industrial and manufacturing hubs.
According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), the temblor occurred at 4.17 a.m. at a depth of 17.9 km, the BBC reported.
Of the victims, 23 were reported in Malatya province, while Sanliurfa to the east registered 17 fatalities.
There were casualties in Diyarbakir and Osmaniye as well but the official numbers were not known immediately.
"We've set up a fourth-level alert. This is an alarm that includes international assistance," Soylu said.
Addressing reporters, the Minister said the quake affected the 10 Turkish cities of Gaziantep, Kahramanmaras, Hatay, Osmaniye, Adiyaman, Malatya, Sanliurfa, Adana, Diyarbakir and Kilis, reports the BBC.
The authorities have said that a number of buildings in Gaziantep have collapsed, and some people may be trapped.
Governor Erdinc Yilmaz said that 34 buildings were destroyed in the province.
Turkish seismologists said that a second 6.4 magnitude tremor hit the region just minutes later.
There are fears the death toll will rise sharply in the coming hours as many buildings have collapsed and rescue teams have been deployed to search for survivors under huge piles of rubble.
Meanwhile, Syrian state media also reported 42 fatalities in the country, but an official confirmation was awaited.
Turkey lies in one of the world's most active earthquake zones.
In 1999, more than 17,000 people were killed after a powerful tremor rocked the north-west of the country. Watch Video:
Entire buildings collapsed in S. #Turkey the epicenter of 7.8 magnitude earthquake in last hour, that also sent shockwaves to Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Israel, Palestine, Cyprus. We don’t know death toll yet: pic.twitter.com/A7fomc3AXT— Joyce Karam (@Joyce_Karam) February 6, 2023
Entire buildings collapsed in S. #Turkey the epicenter of 7.8 magnitude earthquake in last hour, that also sent shockwaves to Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Israel, Palestine, Cyprus. We don’t know death toll yet: pic.twitter.com/A7fomc3AXT
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