An official with the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Agency, AFAD, said that the earthquake that struck southern Turkey and northern Syria last Monday had a magnitude of 7.7 and lasted 65 seconds, and that the energy emitted from it was equivalent to 500 nuclear bombs.
According to the general director of the Department of Earthquakes and Risk Reduction in Avad, Orhan Tatar, the second earthquake that followed the first quake had a magnitude of 7.6 and lasted 45 seconds, and that the region shook violently for about two minutes in total during the two devastating earthquakes.
At the same time, Tatar commented on the allegations of volcanic activity after the earthquake, saying, "We did not notice a flow of lava, volcanic ash, or a flow of oil and gas in the earthquake area."
However, the hours that followed the two devastating earthquakes witnessed hundreds of violent aftershocks, and this lasted for days, according to the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Authority, where more than two thousand aftershocks were recorded, noting that the administration is still asking citizens not to go to the affected areas.
The earthquake caused great loss of life and property in the two countries, and the events of the figures reported on Saturday afternoon indicate that the death toll in southern Turkey and northern Syria has exceeded 26,000, in addition to about 90,000 injured.
The worst in the region in 100 years
On the other hand, United Nations aid official Martin Griffiths considered today, Saturday, that the devastating earthquake that occurred in southern Turkey and northwestern Syria is "the worst event this region has witnessed in 100 years."
During a press briefing in the Turkish province of Kahramanmaraş, Griffiths praised Turkey's response to the disaster as "extraordinary".
At the same time, the UN official expressed his hope that aid in Syria would reach areas under the control of the government and opposition fighters alike, but he said that "things in this regard are not yet clear."
3 fold
For his part, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the recent earthquake is 3 times stronger and more destructive than the 1999 earthquake engraved in the country's memory.
In a speech he delivered during his visit to a camp for those affected by the earthquake in the Qaya Binar Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi district of Diyarbakir state, Erdogan said that the earthquake caused damage over an area of 500 km and was felt by people over an area of 1,000 km.