A massive earthquake hits Turkey, Syria, killing more than 1500 people.

A powerful earthquake has hit Turkey and Syria early Monday, the first quake was 7.8 magnitude and affected major cities of Turkey and the second was of 7.5 magnitude and hit southeast of Turkey, a third earthquake has also hit Turkey within a span of 18 hours. The earthquake is being said to be the most powerful of this century and has killed over 1500 people. The tremors have been felt as far as Greenland. The head of Syria’s National Earthquake Centre, Raed Ahmed has called the earthquake “the biggest earthquake recorded in the history of the centre”.

At least 560 people have died in rebel and government-controlled parts of Syria. The first quake was followed by 50 aftershocks that included a 7.5 major tremor that jolted search and rescue mission on Monday afternoon. Sources and witnesses felt the second tremor as far as the Turkish capital city of Ankara and the Iraqi Kurdistan city of Irbil.

The epicenter of the first quake was in Gaziantep about 90 kilometers from the Syrian border. It is a place which houses millions of refugees from the Syrian civil war.

Rick Brennan, the WHO’s regional emergency director for the eastern Mediterranean stated on account of the earthquake that” I think we can expect the death toll to increase significantly”.

India and other countries have all come up to help and provide aid. PM Narendra Modi stated “India stands in solidarity with the people of Turkey and is ready to offer all possible assistance to cope with this tragedy”.