On both sides of the border, residents jolted out of sleep by the pre-dawn quake rushed outside on a cold, rainy and snowy winter night, as buildings were flattened and strong aftershocks continued.
The opposition-held regions in Syria are packed with some 4 million people displaced from other parts of the country by the fighting. Many of them live in buildings that are already wrecked from past bombardments. Hundreds of families remained trapped in rubble, the opposition emergency organization, called the White Helmets, said in a statement.
"Unfortunately, at the same time, we are also struggling with extremely severe weather conditions," Oktay told reporters. Nearly 2,800 search and rescue teams have been deployed in the disaster-stricken areas, he said. The quake heavily damaged Gaziantep's most famed landmark, its historic castle perched atop a hill in the center of the city. Parts of the fortresses' walls and watch towers were leveled and other parts heavily damaged, images from the city showed.
In the small Syrian rebel-held town of Azmarin in the mountains by the Turkish border, the bodies of several dead children, wrapped in blankets, were brought to a hospital.
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Photos: A 7.8-magnitude earthquake hits Turkey and Syria, kills hundredsA powerful earthquake killed more than 600 people and toppled numerous buildings in southeastern Turkey and northern Syria on Monday. The search for survivors is ongoing, with emergency services and civilians scraping through the rubble. You misspelled TURKIYE 4 am earhtquake. 1700 buildings collapsed (5 story+ buildings). 50 people on average per building would sum up to 50k-75k potential deaths. God help the ones under the ruins with snow and below 0 temps. Cheap construction is the reason for deaths. r.i.p....
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