Earthquake in Turkey & Syria: Heavy rain hampers rescue efforts

• Heavy rain and snow hampered the rescue operations.
• Nearly 4,300 people have lost their lives in Turkey and over the border in Syria.
• The World Health Organization has cautioned that the death toll might grow.

Rescuers are battling heavy rain and snow as they race against the clock to find survivors of a devastating earthquake in southeast Turkey.

Rescuers are racing against time to find survivors after a deadly earthquake in southeast Turkey.

When the earthquake struck in the early hours of Monday, it killed nearly 4,300 people in Turkey and over the border in Syria.

The World Health Organization has cautioned that the death toll might grow substantially as rescuers discover additional fatalities.

Many individuals in the disaster zone are afraid to return to their homes.

According to the US Geological Survey, the 7.8 magnitude tremor struck at 04:17 (01:17 GMT) on Monday at a depth of 17.9km (11 miles) near Gaziantep.

Seismologists claim it was one of the most powerful ever recorded in Turkey, where at least 2,921 people died. According to survivors, the shaking lasted two minutes.

A later tremor with a magnitude of 7.5 struck the Elbistan area of Kahramanmaras province.

As daylight broke on Tuesday, traffic was halted on the main highway leading to the Turkish city of Maras, which is near to the epicenter of the earthquake and is thought to be one of the worst-affected locations.

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