At least 111 Dead in Syria Due to Earthquake

At least 111 people are reported dead and 516 injured in the Syrian provinces of Aleppo, Latakia, Hama and Tartous, as a result of an earthquake that struck the eastern Mediterranean region, the Syrian Ministry of Health said on Monday.

The Director General of the National Center for Earthquake Monitoring in Syria, Dr. Raed Ahmed said: “This earthquake is the strongest during the investment life of the national seismic network, that is, since 1995.”

He added, “Syria was affected by the earthquakes that occurred in northern Syria in general in its various regions, while the regions near the epicenter of the earthquake were most affected in Idlib, Latakia and Aleppo.”

Dr. Raed Ahmed said that “There have been and will occur sequentially aftershocks, but they are much weaker than the strength of the earthquake that occurred. Citizens who left their homes on the roads can return to their homes if they are not cracked, because all subsequent aftershocks are weaker in intensity.”

Syrian television reported, in the early hours of Monday that a large number of buildings had collapsed in Aleppo, as a result of the devastating earthquake that struck Syria and Turkey.