At least 10 killed in Turkey earthquake, dozens trapped under rubble

ANKARA: At least 10 people were killed in Turkey after an earthquake shook the country's south and also northern Syria, two local Turkish officials said.

The German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) said the quake struck at a depth of 10 km (6 miles) near the southern Turkish city of Kahramanmaras, while the EMSC monitoring service said the chance of a tsunami risk was being evaluated.

Syrian state media said a large number of buildings collapsed in the province of Aleppo, while a source in the Hama civil service said several buildings collapsed there.

"Paintings fell off the walls in the house," said Samer, a resident of Damascus, the Syrian capital. "I woke up terrified. Now we’re all dressed and standing at the door."

People in Damascus, as well as in the Lebanese cities of Beirut and Tripoli ran into the street on foot and took to their cars to get away from their buildings in case of collapses, witnesses said.

The area is regularly hit by strong earthquakes.

The head of the Turkish Red Cross said it was mobilising resources for the region as it had received information of serious damage and collapsed buildings, and urged people to evacuate damaged homes.