Where in Turkey and Syria did the earthquake hit? All you need to know

Tremor struck at junction of three tectonic plates and aftershocks are continuing

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  A child being rescued from the rubble in this screengrab obtained from social media, in Bisnia in Syria. Reuters

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  A rescued boy is given water in a bottle cap in Hatay, Turkey. Reuters

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  A woman carries a box of food in Kahramanmaras, Turkey. Reuters

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  'We were screaming for help until people came to help us and they took us to the hospital', said Hamid from Homs who was injured in a building collapse. Matt Kynaston / The National

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  Palestinians attend a vigil to exress solidarity with the people of Turkey and Syria in Khan Yunius in the southern Gaza Strip. AFP

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  A collapsed building in Hatay, Turkey after a major earthquake struck southern Turkey and northern Syria on February 6. EPA

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  A Syrian man cries as he sits on the rubble of a collapsed building in the rebel-held town of Jindayris. AFP

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  A man carries a girl who was rescued from the rubble of a collapsed building in Hatay. EPA

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  Members of the Turkish community in Berlin gather humanitarian aid. EPA

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  A Turkish soldier in front of a collapsed building in Hatay. EPA

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  The rubble of buildings in the village of Besnaya in Syria's Idlib province. AFP

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  Russian rescuers search for survivors in the town of Jableh in Syria's Latakia province. AFP

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  A photo taken with a drone shows an aerial view over collapsed buildings after an earthquake in Hatay, Turkey. EPA

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  Destruction in Hatay city centre. AP

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  Members of the Turkish community in Berlin collect aid to support victims. Reuters

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  An injured man is carried to an ambulance after being rescued from the rubble in Hatay. Reuters

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  A man carries an aid box in Hatay. Getty

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  Bags of wood for fires are distributed in Hatay Turkey. Getty

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  A man trapped in rubble waits while debris is removed in Hatay. AFP

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  Residents look for their relatives in Hatay. AFP

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  Rescuers look for survivors under the rubble of collapsed buildings in Kahramanmaras, close to the quake's epicentre. AFP

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  Emergency personnel search for victims at the site of a collapsed building in the city of Iskenderun. EPA

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  Muhammet Ruzgar, five, is carried by rescuers from the site of a damaged building in Hatay. Reuters

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  A newborn found attached by her umbilical cord to her mother and pulled alive from the rubble of a home in northern Syria receives care at a clinic in Afrin. AFP

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  Women grieve in Hatay, Turkey. Reuters

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  Smoke billows at the site of a collapsed building in Iskenderun, Turkey. Getty

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  An Iraqi plane offloads aid at Damascus airport in Syria. Reuters

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  Two people cry near rubble in Turkey's Hatay province. Reuters

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  A damaged building in Iskenderun. EPA

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  Rescuers search for survivors at the site of a collapsed building in Iskenderun. EPA

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  Cennet Sucu is rescued from beneath the rubble of collapsed hospital in Iskenderun. Reuters

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  Security forces load Red Crescent aid on to a plane destined for Syria at a military base in Baghdad, Iraq. Reuters

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  People rest next to fire amid the rubble in Hatay, after a 7. 8-magnitude earthquake struck Turkey's south-east. AFP

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  Rescuers board a charter plane in Cologne, Germany, as they head to Turkey to assist in the search for find survivors of the quake. Reuters

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  Injured survivors wait to be treated at a field hospital in Iskenderun,Turkey. Getty

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  Residents of Turkish city Adana gather at the scene of a collapsed building. The death toll in Turkey and Syria has risen to more than 2,000 after the region's strongest quake in nearly a century. AFP

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  Residents search for survivors amid the rubble of collapsed buildings in the village of Besnia, in Syria's north-western Idlib province. AFP

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  A rescuer carries a Syrian toddler, Raghad Ismail, away from the rubble of a building. Reuters

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  Residents wait anxiously as rescue operations take place in Diyarbakir, Turkey. Reuters

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  Rescue workers search for survivors under the rubble in Diyarbakir. Reuters

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  Residents search for survivors in Besnia, Syria. AFP

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  A Syrian man weeps as he carries the body of his son who was killed in an earthquake in the town of Jandaris. AFP

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  A wounded man in Jandaris. AFP

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  Rescue workers search for survivors in Diyarbakir, Turkey. Reuters

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  A man carries a girl to safety following the earthquake, in Jandaris, Syria. Reuters

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  People receive treatment at Al Rahma hospital in the Syrian town of Darkush. AFP

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  Rescuers carry a girl from a collapsed building, in Diyarbakir, Turkey. Reuters

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  A survivor is extracted from the rubble in Diyarbakir. AFP

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  The aftermath of the 7.8-magnitude earthquake on February 6 in Adana, Turkey. Reuters

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  Rescuers work near the site of a collapsed building in Hama, Syria. Reuters

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  Turkish sweet vendors at Dubai Waterfront Market watch earthquake updates on a phone. Victor Besa / The National

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  Hayri Aggül and Ismet Guven watch the latest news on the disaster. Victor Besa / The National

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  Syrian President Bashar Al Assad (C) leads an emergency cabinet meeting in the capital, Damascus. EPA

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  Hundreds of people were killed as they slept. Abd Almajed Alkarh for The National

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  Rescue teams search for survivors in Idlib, Syria. Abd Almajed Alkarh for The National

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  Rescue teams look for survivors under the rubble of a collapsed building in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo. AFP

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  A desperate search for survivors in Aleppo. AFP

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  Despair in Diyarbakir, south-eastern Turkey. AFP

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  An injured survivor is pulled from the rubble in Diyarbakir. AFP

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  Relatives face an anxious wait as emergency teams search for survivors in Diyarbakir. EPA

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  Damage caused by the earthquake in Idlib, north-western Syria. Moawia Atrash for The National

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  An injured child is plucked from the rubble of a building following the earthquake in rebel-held Azaz, Syria. Reuters

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  A Syrian Civil Defence team recovering victims of the earthquake in Idlib. Moawia Atrash for The National

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  Tremors were felt as far away as Cyprus, Egypt and Iraq. Moawia Atrash for The National

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  Destruction in the rebel-held town of Jandaris, Syria. Reuters

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  People search through rubble in Diyarbakir, Turkey. Reuters

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  A car is smashed up by fallen debris in Azaz. Reuters

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  Damaged vehicles after the powerful earthquake in Diyarbakir. EPA

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  Severe damage to a mosque in Malatya, Turkey. AP

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  Several buildings collapsed, trapping many people underneath the rubble. AP

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  Hospitals in north-eastern Syria were full of injured people. AFP

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  An injured man waits for treatment at Bab Al Hawa hospital in Syria's Idlib province. AFP

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  A car is buried underneath the rubble of a collapsed building in Azmarin, a town in Syria's Idlib province. AP

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  Rescuers search for victims as an ambulance waits. AFP

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  An injured child awaits treatment at Bab Al Hawa hospital. AFP

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  Rescuers search through the rubble for survivors. EPA

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  The US Geological Survey said the quake began at 4.17am local time. EPA

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  People at the site of a collapsed building. EPA

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  The earthquake in Turkey caused widespread destruction. AP

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  People gather around a collapsed building in Pazarcik, in Turkey's Kahramanmaras province. AP

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  At least 130 buildings collapsed in the Turkish city of Malatya. Reuters

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  Rescuers search for victims in Diyarbakir. AFP

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  Rescuers carry a victim at the site of a collapsed building in Hama, Syria. AFP

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  Rescuers search for survivors in Hama. AFP

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  Rescuers carry a victim pulled out from under the rubble of an eight-storey building. AFP

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  Damaged buildings in Hama. The aftershocks of the quake were felt in Syria and other neighbouring countries. Reuters

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  A Syrian Civil Defence representative said the situation in the city was catastrophic. Reuters

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  The death toll is expected to rise in Turkey and Syria. Reuters

Follow the latest on the earthquake in Turkey

Thousands are dead after a huge earthquake struck Turkey and Syria early on Monday morning.

Rescue teams have battled bad weather all week to save lives. By Friday, the death toll has risen beyond 21,000 in Turkey and Syria, with tens of thousands more injured.

Here's what you need to know.

When and where did the earthquake occur?

The epicentre was just north of Turkey's border region of Gaziantep, in the province of Kahramanmaras, but eight provinces have been affected. The ripples spread across the border into north-west Syria. The earthquake struck in the early hours of Monday morning.

The tremor lasted about a minute, destroying more than 6,000 buildings in Turkey alone, many occupied by sleeping residents.

The US Geological Survey, which tracks seismic activity around the world, said the earthquake struck at a depth of 17.9km where the Anatolia, Arabia, and Africa tectonic plates meet.

In Syria, where parts of many cities have been destroyed by 12 years of bombardment in a drawn-out civil war, many buildings are structurally unsound. The area where the quake struck is also in the hands of rival militia groups, preventing a co-ordinated response.

In a part of the Aleppo countryside controlled by rebel groups, members of the civil defence unit known as the White Helmets worked to free those beneath the rubble. The group said stormy weather had affected the pace and safety of rescue efforts.

State TV showed footage of rescue teams in heavy rain and sleet searching for survivors. Health officials advised people to stay outside and were asking the public to help take injured people to emergency rooms.

The Norwegian Refugee Council said the earthquake would only add to the suffering of millions of Syrians already enduring a humanitarian crisis due to the civil war.

Adelheid Marschang, senior emergency officer at the World Health Organisation, said Turkey had a strong capacity to respond to the crisis but the main needs in the immediate and medium term would be across the border in Syria, where residents are grappling not only with the war, but also a cholera outbreak.

"This is a crisis on top of multiple crises in the affected region," she said at a WHO board meeting in Geneva.

"All over Syria, the needs are the highest after nearly 12 years of protracted, complex crisis, while humanitarian funding continues to decline."

She said 23 million people, including 1.4 million children, were likely to be exposed in both countries after the earthquake and its aftershocks had reduced thousands of buildings to rubble.

"It's now a race against time," said WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. "Every minute, every hour that passes, the chances of finding survivors alive diminishes.

Where else was the earthquake felt?

The 7.8-magnitude earthquake was also felt in Lebanon and Cyprus. In Beirut, the site of a chemical explosion that rocked the city two and a half years ago, the shaking of windows and walls sparked fear of another tragedy.

In Iraq's northern Duhok region, residents felt the quake so strongly they rushed outside to safety.

How many aftershocks were felt?

Almost 200 aftershocks were reported, as well as a second earthquake. Geological survey agencies said more could occur.

Eleven minutes after the initial earthquake, an aftershock of magnitude 6.7 followed, the US Geological Survey said. The magnitude of the aftershocks is more severe than many of the region's worst quakes.

When was the area's last big earthquake?

Turkey is no stranger to earthquakes. The last large tremor in the area occurred on January 24, 2020 in Elazıg. The 6.8-magnitude quake produced hundreds of aftershocks, interfering with rescue efforts.

More than 17,000 people were killed in 1999 when a 7.6-magnitude quake struck Izmit, a city south-east of Istanbul. In 2011, an earthquake in the eastern city of Van killed more than 500 people.

The region between Turkey and Syria has not suffered such a big earthquake in the Turkish province of Kahramanmaras for more than 100 years, the director of the Swiss Seismology Service said on Thursday.

What about rescue efforts?

Early on Friday, a teenager was pulled, largely unscathed, from beneath the rubble of a collapsed building in the Turkish city of Gaziantep — but four days after the earthquake struck the possibility of finding more survivors was rapidly shrinking.

Temperatures were below freezing across the region and many people have no place to shelter.

The government has distributed millions of hot meals, as well as tents and blankets, but is still struggling to reach many people in need.

Mustafa Turan rushed to his hometown of Adiyaman from Istanbul hours after the quake struck to check on his relatives. He counted 248 collapsed buildings between the airport and the city centre, AP reported.

The journalist said on Friday that 15 of his relatives had been killed, and scores of people were sleeping outside or in tents.

“At night, about 4am, it got so cold that our drinking water froze,” he said.

With morgues and cemeteries overwhelmed, bodies lay wrapped in blankets, rugs and tarps in the streets of some cities.

Turkey’s disaster management agency said more than 18,000 people had been confirmed killed in the disaster so far in Turkey alone, with nearly 75,000 injured.

No figures have been released on how many have been left homeless, but the agency said more than 75,000 survivors have been moved to other provinces.