Monday evening news briefing: Death toll soars after second quake
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Good evening. People trapped underneath the rubble left by two massive earthquakes in Turkey have been livestreaming their pleas for help, as the death toll continues to rise. Our reporters have spoken to survivors who have described the sheer scale of the devastation.
Evening briefing: Today's essential headlines
Epsom College | Gunshots were heard before the body of Epsom College's headteacher was discovered alongside her husband and seven-year-old daughter, a source has told The Telegraph. The bodies of Emma Pattison, 45, the college head, her husband George, 39, and their daughter Lettie, were found at their home on the school site in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Huddersfield | Woman arrested after three children stabbed
Nicola Bulley | Specialist sonar team joins search
Met Police | Rapist officer carried out 'catalogue' of brutal attacks
Scotland | ‘Mask slips’ as Nicola Sturgeon calls trans rapist ‘her’
The big story: Death toll from quakes continues to rise
Over 2,000 people have been killed after a second tremor struck Turkey just hours after a massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the same region. The epicentre of the first quake was in the southern Turkish city of Gaziantep, with much of the devastation centred along the border with Syria, where hundreds of thousands of refugees reside.
The second tremor struck around noon and is feared to have caused many more deaths. Frequent aftershocks have rocked the area since the initial quake and tremors were felt as far away as Cyprus and Egypt.
The earthquake, the largest to strike Turkey in decades, wiped out entire sections of major cities in a region filled with millions of people who have fled the civil war in Syria and other conflicts.
It occurred in a seismically active area known as the East Anatolian fault zone, which has produced damaging earthquakes in the past. Geologists said the earthquake was a strike-slip quake, where two tectonic plates slide past each other horizontally, instead of moving up and down.
Meryem Sut, a 32-year-old woman from the town of Samandag, described to The Telegraph the sheer scale of devastation and said she was angry with the government for failing to provide a timely response. “The state is not here. Including the (emergency services agency) AFAD. No one is here,” she told The Telegraph's Beril Eski.
She added: “Every third house in Samandag has collapsed. Nothing is organised here. No one is distributing food. We do everything on our own.”
Ms Sut described going to the local hospital to see her brother who had a car accident after the first earthquake: “Health workers are treating only patients with life-threatening injuries, and the services are very limited."
The UK has said it will send search and rescue teams and a specialised medical team to Turkey to assist with the emergency response.
Pleas for help on social media
With emergency lines overwhelmed after the earthquakes hit, many of those trapped tweeted and livestreamed their pleas for help. In one video, a middle-aged woman filmed herself and another woman who were trapped under bricks and cement blocks. “Look, sister, look, we’re in a terrible situation!” the woman can be heard crying. “Look at the ceiling right above us! Look at the pipes.”
Others took to Twitter to document their suffering and call for help.Seyma, a young woman from Gaziantep, wrote: “I’m at home with my family, and we can’t get out… Six of us in the living room. The walls can fall on us at any moment.” Later, she described how her uncle managed to get them out with the help of a digger.
Millions left homeless in freezing cold
The earthquake will force several million people living in the south of Turkey to camp out in the streets in the middle of an unusual cold spell. Temperatures across the affected areas hovered around zero on Sunday night, and rain and snow is forecast for the next few years in a region where winters are typically mild.
Heating is likely to be a lasting problem in the region as the authorities cut off gas supplies and power supplies were disrupted by the earthquake.
Comment and analysis
Tom Harris | Boris may surpass Churchill in wilderness return
Caroline Leaper | No room for good taste on Grammys red carpet
Andrew Orlowski | Silicon Valley's best idea is already a running joke
Nile Gardiner | US conservatives are battling for Ukraine
Jane Shilling | Fall of sourdough shows lockdown tastes are waning
World news: Kim Jong-un goes missing before parade
Kim Jong-un has not been seen in public for 35 days, ahead of an expected mass parade in Pyongyang this week to celebrate the North Korean military’s 75th anniversary. The authoritarian leader skipped a Politburo meeting on Sunday on the country’s acute agricultural crisis, NK News reported, noting that it was only the third time he has ever done so. Our Asia correspondent Nicola Smith writes that previous extended periods out of the public eye have fuelled rumours about his deteriorating health and speculation about his possible successor.
Monday interview
Natascha McElhone: ‘All actors hate how they look’
The Hotel Portofino actor, 51, discusses growing up in Brighton, working with Anthony Hopkins and why she isn't on Instagram
Sport news: Man City face league expulsion threat
Manchester City are facing the threat of top flight expulsion after being charged by the Premier League with more than 100 alleged breaches of financial regulations. The bombshell revelations follow a four-year investigation by the Premier League into City’s practices and, if the charges are proven, the club could face an unprecedented range of punishments - click here to find out what could happen to City. Meanwhile, Leeds United have sacked head coach Jesse Marsch after just 11 months in charge at Elland Road.
Editor's choice
Travel | Secrets of the county where men live the longest
Health | How I reversed my type 2 diabetes – and you can too
TV | Happy Valley’s James Norton has passed his Bond audition with flying colours
Business news: Track the house price crash
It’s a national preoccupation: how far have house prices fallen, and how much further will they drop? Property prices started to fall on a monthly basis at the end of 2022, but the real downturn is about to hit as the market reels from the effects of soaring mortgage rates. So how do we measure the real state of the market? Our new house price tracker gives you every chart you need to see how far house prices are falling.
Tonight starts now
There’s never been a better time to ski in Scotland | From the UK’s highest railway to multi-million-pound hotels, here’s everything you need to know about the future of skiing in the Highlands.
Three things for you
Books | The inside story of rock’s most outrageous cover art
Fitness | Stop doing sit-ups and try these exercises instead
And finally... for this evening's downtime
The overlooked Essex town with a listed building for every four residents | History lurks on every corner in Harwich, yet it’s scandalously overlooked by tourists and sadly fraying at the edges.
If you want to receive twice-daily briefings like this by email, sign up to the Front Page newsletter here. For two-minute audio updates, try The Briefing - on podcasts and smart speakers.
