M 7.8 Earthquake Hits Turkey, Vibrations Felt to Cyprus and Syria

JAKARTA - An earthquake of magnitude 7.8 hit southern Turkey on Monday 6 February morning. This strong earthquake vibration even spread to Cyprus, Lebanon, and Syria.

The magnitude of this earthquake has brought down buildings and forced residents to run into the snowy streets, witnesses said as quoted by Channel News Asia.

At least 10 people were killed, two local Turkish officials said.

The German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ) said the quake occurred at a depth of 10 km near the southern Turkish city of Kahramanmaras, while the EMSC monitoring service said the possible risk of a tsunami was being evaluated.

The tremors lasted about a minute and shattered windows, according to a Reuters witness in Diyarbakir, 350 km to the east.

Broadcasters TRT and Haberturk aired images of people gathering around destroyed buildings in Kahramanmaras, searching for survivors.

Syrian state media said a large number of buildings collapsed in Aleppo province, while sources in the Hama civil service said several buildings collapsed there.

"Paintings are falling from the walls of houses," said Samer, a resident of Damascus, the Syrian capital.

"I woke up terrified. Now we are all dressed and standing at the door."