In a shocking weather reaction, several countries in the Middle Eastern region have experienced tremors and crushed buildings as a magnitude 6.7 earthquake hit Turkey and neighbors.
According to reports from Earthquakes.Usgs.Gov, the affected countries include Turkey, Syria, Georgia and Armenia.
The casualties from the incident are still rising as reports from Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD) have placed the death toll at 22 (last hour from 17:50 PM WAT, 25th Jan. 2020), and at least 1,103 have been injured.
This does not count those that are missing. Turkey’s Health Minister Fahrettin Koca is responding to reporters.
Some rescue teams are currently searching in the rubble of destroyed buildings in the Elazig province where the earthquake is concentrated, Koca explained.
The Health Minister of Turkey has advised that the death toll could go higher.
According to AFAD, about 42 people have been rescued from collapsed buildings so far, and another 22 others remain trapped in those buildings in Elazig
As the night falls and freezing cold creeps in, rescue teams search within the rubble of caved in buildings, using bare hands, drills and mechanical diggers to separate bricks and wall coatings from buildings.
Elizag is just some 40 kilometers away from the epicenter of the earthquake.
A man, from the village of Sivrice, in Elizag Turkey, standing near his destroyed home. Elizag has a population of 300,000.
Follow OYOGIST.com on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for the latest around the world.
