Turkey and Syria have been hit by asrcond earthquake just hours after one overnight with an magnitude up to 7.8 overnight
More than 2,309 people have so far been confirmed dead but that is continuing to rise with hundreds trapped under rubble
The epicentre of the quake was believed to be near the city of Gaziantep but it was felt as far away as Cairo
Reports say that he 30,000-strong Syrian town of Harim near the border with Turkey has been “completely wiped off the face of the earth,”
Thousands of buildings were reported collapsed in a wide area extending from Syria’s cities of Aleppo and Hama to Turkey’s Diyarbakir, more than 330 kilometers to the northeast.
A hospital collapsed in the Mediterranean coastal city of Iskenderun
The Gaziantep Castle, which was built more than 2,200 years ago, collapsed during the earthquake.
“Because the debris removal efforts are continuing in many buildings in the earthquake zone, we do not know how high the number of dead and injured will rise,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. “Our hope is that we recover from this disaster with the least loss of life possible.”
