A MASSIVE 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck the southern region of Turkey on Monday, February 6, the United States Geological Survey said.

In a report, the US Geological Survey said that the quake happened not far from Syria’s northern border. The epicenter of the quake was located near the city of Gaziantep in Turkey close to the border of Syria. 

Scope of the massive earthquake

The quake was also felt in Cyprus, Lebanon, and Syria, according to media reports.

Seismic activity has been detected in the area around the epicenter of the quake, it said.

As per the report, since 1970, there have been a total of only three earthquakes with a magnitude of 6 or higher that have occurred within 250 kilometers of the earthquake.

It noted that after 11 minutes, a magnitude 6.7 aftershock occurred as a direct continuation of the earthquake. The strike-slip faulting that occurred at a shallow depth was the cause of the magnitude 7.8 earthquake.

“The preliminary location of the earthquake places it within the vicinity of a triple-junction between the Anatolia, Arabia, and Africa plates. The mechanism and location of the earthquake are consistent with the earthquake that had occurred on either the East Anatolia fault zone or the Dead Sea transform fault zone,” said the US Geological Survey report.

Damage

In a tweet from  Anadolu Agency, some five people were killed while 34 buildings have been toppled by the earthquake in southern Osmaniye province.

In a separate report, the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) reported that the incident shook at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) near the city of Kahramanmaras in southern Turkey. The EMSC monitoring agency said that the possibility of a tsunami risk is now being investigated. 

An eyewitness in Diyarbakir, which is 350 kilometers (218 miles) to the east, told in a Reuters report that the earthquake lasted for almost one minute and broke windows.

The same report also said that Turkish government officials in the region reported several buildings have been destroyed and encouraged the citizens to evacuate to safe areas.

Philippine authorities  have yet to provide information if there are Filipinos affected by the earthquake.

Banner Photo Credit: Anadolu Agency, via Twitter