A strong earthquake of magnitude 7.8 on the Richter scale and falls in the great category. The earthquake occurred around the southern parts of Turkey close to border areas of Syria and both the countries have suffered devastating effects due to this earthquake.
Not only this, the quake was followed by several aftershocks and even a strong quake. As per the USGS, the earthquake was centered 33 kilometers from Gaziantep and 26 km from Nurdagi. The depth of the earthquake was reported as 18 kilometers.
So far, about 2470 people have been rescued from the rubbles, however, the bad news is that the earthquake was very strong and has caused immense damage to life and property. The total death toll has reached over 1300 in both Syria and Turkey so far.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) in India will be sending two teams, each comprising 100 personnel, with specially trained dog squads, medical teams and necessary equipment. The dispatch of the teams will be done in coordination with the government of Turkey and the Indian Embassy in Ankara and the Consulate General Office in Istanbul, according to the Prime Minister's Office in India.
While there have been no. of earthquakes in many parts, in the recent past, there has not been any such quake of this magnitude and damage potential.
The earthquake occurred over the industrial areas of Turkey, where there is enough settlement and the damage is quite visible. The worst part is that even hospitals and other agencies, which otherwise get engaged in search, rescue and relief operations like these also get paralysed due to such a magnitude of quake. Thus, the overall recovery from such a disaster gets hampered and hindered.
As per reports, figures are expected to see a steep rise since the quake has been a very strong one.