Ammon News -

At least 1,014 people were killed and 7,003 others injured in 10 provinces after strong earthquakes jolted southern Türkiye on Monday, the country's disaster agency's head Yunus Sezer said.

 

Early Monday morning, a strong 7.7 earthquake, centered in the Pazarcik district, jolted Kahramanmaras and heavily affected several provinces including Gaziantep, Sanliurfa, Diyarbakir, Adana, Adiyaman, Malatya, Osmaniye, Hatay, and Kilis.

 

A new 7.6 magnitude earthquake at 1324 p.m. (1024GMT) struck southern Türkiye, which was centered in the Elbistan district of Kahramanmaras.

 

Gaziantep, Sanliurfa, Diyarbakır, Adana, Adıyaman, Malatya, Osmaniye, Hatay, and Kilis provinces are heavily affected by the quake.

 

In neighboring Syria, more than 230 people were killed, state media reported.

 

The Syrian health ministry said people had died in the provinces of Aleppo, Latakia, Hama and Tartus.

There are fears the number of deaths will rise sharply in the coming hours.

 

Many buildings have collapsed and rescue teams have been deployed to search for survivors under huge piles of rubble.