Over 1,650 killed, 11,119 injured by powerful quakes in southern Türkiye

HATAY, TÜRKİYE - FEBRUARY 06: At least 1,651 people were killed and 11,119 others injured in 10 provinces due to two strong earthquakes that jolted southern Türkiye on Monday, said the country's Health Minister Fahrettin Koca. Early Monday morning, a strong 7.7 earthquake, centered in the Pazarcik district, jolted Kahramanmaras and strongly shook several provinces, including Gaziantep, Sanliurfa, Diyarbakir, Adana, Adiyaman, Malatya, Osmaniye, Hatay, and Kilis. Later, at 13.24 p.m. (1024GMT), a 7.6 magnitude quake centered in Kahramanmaras’s Elbistan district struck the region. Nearly 9,700 search and rescue personnel have been assigned to the region, according to the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD). There is currently no tsunami threat to Türkiye's Eastern Mediterranean coasts, AFAD said. Meanwhile, Orhan Tatar, AFAD's risk reduction general manager, said that a total of 185 aftershocks had occurred and 5,606 buildings collapsed. Tatar said 6,645 people were rescued from the rubble. He added that 250 million Turkish liras (about $13.3 million) in emergency funds had been sent to the provinces in the disaster area so far. As a "purely precautionary decision," the Turkish Petroleum Pipeline Company (BOTAS) stopped the flow of crude oil in the region, Tatar added. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that with the quake, Türkiye was shaken by the "biggest disaster" since the 1939 Erzincan earthquake. "Our state has taken action with all its institutions since the earthquake. All resources have been mobilized," he said at the AFAD office in the capital Ankara, where he was coordinating the rescue and relief work. The president spoke to the mayors of Adana, Osmaniye, Hatay, and Kilis on the phone and learned about search and rescue efforts, according to the presidency. (Footage by Mujdat Genc /Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)