A 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Turkey and Syria on Monday, killing more than 500 people while thousands have been left injured.
Al Jazeera reported Turkey’s Vice President Fuat Oktayas saying that the death toll in Turkey has risen to at least 1,541, leaving 9,733 others injured and 3,471 buildings destroyed.
An uncertain number of people also died in government-controlled parts of Syria, as well as the northern areas held by pro-Turkish factions, according to state media and a local hospital.
The earthquake was one of the most powerful to hit the region in at least a century.
Turkey has declared a state of emergency.
Meanwhile, Biden says he has “authorized an immediate US response” to deadly earthquake in Turkey and Syria.
In a statement by his spokesperson, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari “extends heartfelt commiserations to the governments and people of Turkey and Syria, and those who lost family and friends in the devastating earthquake in the southern Turkish city of Gaziantep.”
