February 6, 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake news

More than 2,300 people have died and thousands more are hurt after a massive earthquake rocked Turkey and Syria Monday morning. The magnitude 7.8 quake was one of the strongest to strike the area in more than a century. Amid severe aftershocks, Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD) called for international help.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) says it is “launching immediate cash assistance” from its Disaster Response Emergency Fund to help relief efforts in both countries.

Many other organizations are also on the ground responding. CNN’s Impact Your World has gathered ways to help victims of the massive earthquake.

You can read more about how you can help here.

Russian President Vladimir Putin held separate calls with his Turkish and Syrian counterparts, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Bashar al-Assad, on Monday and pledged Moscow's assistance in the aftermath of devastating earthquakes, according to a Kremlin readout.

Putin expressed “deep condolences over the devastating earthquakes” to Erdogan and “reaffirmed his readiness to immediately provide the Turkish partners with the necessary assistance in eliminating the consequences of this natural disaster,” the readout said.

According to the Russian readout, Erdogan “warmly thanked” Putin and said that he was instructing the competent departments of the country to accept the help of Russian rescuers. 

In a conversation with Assad, Putin also conveyed his condolences and “offered to provide the Syrian side with the necessary assistance in eliminating the consequences of this disaster” which Assad accepted, according to the Kremlin.  

“Bashar al-Assad accepted this offer with gratitude, and in the next few hours, rescuers from the Russian Emergencies Ministry will fly to Syria,” the Kremlin readout went on to say. 

Some background: Russia is the strongest foreign power operating in Syria, and Putin has long allied himself with Assad, throwing the full weight of the Russian military behind the Syrian Army.

The region of northwest Syria, which was impacted by the deadly earthquake on Monday, has 4.1 million people who rely on humanitarian assistance, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Monday.

The majority of these people are women and children and along with the devastation from the earthquake, Syrian communities are battling an ongoing cholera outbreak amid a harsh winter with heavy rain and snow over the weekend, OCHA said in its statement.

At least 820 people are reported dead in Syria following the 7.8 magnitude earthquake on Monday.

The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reports 430 deaths across government-controlled areas and the "White Helmets" group, officially known as the Syria Civil Defense, reported 390 deaths in opposition-controlled areas.

Here are some visuals from the ground:

A CNN producer said that the aftershocks of Monday’s powerful earthquake in Turkey were “like Armageddon.”

When the tremors began, Kourdi said his parents screamed and that he did his best to calm them down, assuring them it would be over soon. 

The situation was "even more catastrophic" in the neighboring town of Pazarcik, where Kourdi visited, adding that as he was leaving he witnessed people running out of dozens of cars during a major aftershock, which measured 7.5 in magnitude.

While returning to Gaziantep, Kourdi reported seeing five kilometers (more than three miles) of traffic as people queued to evacuate the city.

The death toll across Turkey and Syria has risen to at least 2,361 after a powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked southern Turkey early Monday.

The total death toll in Turkey has climbed to 1,541, according to Turkey's Vice President Fuat Oktay. There are now 9,733 people injured in Turkey, Oktay also said. 

The total death toll in Syria is 820. The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reports 430 deaths across government-controlled areas and the "White Helmets" group, officially known as the Syria Civil Defense, reported 390 deaths in opposition-controlled areas.

Spain and France each announced Monday they will send rescue workers to Turkey to assist in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake.

A total of 139 French civil security rescue workers will fly to Turkey on Monday evening to assist with search and rescue efforts, France’s Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said. 

In a tweet, Darmanin said the response came “at the request of the president of the republic,” and is “part of the European solidarity mechanism.” 

“France stands in full solidarity with Turkey in these terrible circumstances,” the minister added.

Spain will send a group of 85 specialists to Turkey on Monday to support search and rescue operations, the country's interior ministry said in a statement.  

One team, with 50 members from the defense ministry's military emergencies unit, will leave from the Moron air force base in southern Spain, according to the ministry. A second team, with 35 members from the Madrid regional government's emergency response unit, will leave on a flight from the Torrejon air force base near Madrid.  

The European Union mechanism for civil protection has confirmed Turkey's acceptance of this aid from Spain, the ministry added.  

An Israeli security source told CNN that Syria asked Russia to convey a request for earthquake aid to Israel, but a Syrian source denied this claim.

A request of that kind would be extraordinary: Israel and Syria are formally at war and have no diplomatic relations. An Israeli diplomatic source said he was not aware of any previous request for aid from a country it was formally at war with. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had announced earlier on Monday that he had approved a request from “a diplomatic element” for aid to Syria, and that he assumed it would be acted on “in the near future.” 

An unnamed Syrian official source then categorically denied there had been such a request, telling a pro-government media outlet Al-Watan, “It is disgraceful that Netanyahu exploits the catastrophe of the earthquake that struck Syria to mislead public opinion and cover up the expansionist and aggressive policies of the occupation.”

Israel regularly sends search and rescue teams around the world in the wake of disasters. Israel formally offered aid to Lebanon in the wake of the devastating Beirut port explosion of 2020, but Lebanon – also officially at war with Israel – did not accept.

US President Joe Biden has “authorized an immediate U.S. response” in the aftermath of a powerful magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Turkey and Syria overnight. 

“Jill and I were deeply saddened by the news of the devastating earthquakes that have thus far claimed thousands of lives in Turkiye and Syria. My Administration has been working closely with our NATO Ally Turkiye, and I authorized an immediate U.S. response,” Biden said in a statement Monday morning as CNN is learning that more than 2,000 people have been killed and rescue and recovery efforts continue.

Senior US officials, he said, are coordinating their Turkish counterparts on assistance needs.

He added that “U.S.-supported humanitarian partners are also responding to the destruction in Syria.”

The President expressed condolences to those impacted by the earthquake.