The Syrian health ministry reported damage in the provinces of Aleppo, Latakia, Hama and Tartus, where Russia is leasing a naval facility.
AFP correspondents in northern Syria said terrified residents ran out of their homes after the ground shook.
Even before the tragedy, buildings in Aleppo – Syria’s pre-war commercial center – often collapsed due to dilapidated infrastructure, which suffered from a lack of war-time inspections.
Authorities shut off natural gas and electricity to the entire region as a precaution, as well as closing schools for two weeks.
David Rothery, a seismologist at the Open University in the UK, said: “The size of aftershocks, which can continue for several days although mostly lacking in energy, puts structures already vulnerable to collapse from earlier events.” “
“It makes search and rescue efforts dangerous.”
Turkey is one of the most active earthquake zones in the world.
In 1999 a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck Turkey’s Düz region, killing more than 17,000 people – including nearly 1,000 in Istanbul.
Experts have long warned that a major earthquake could devastate Istanbul, a megalopolis of 16 million people filled with dilapidated homes.
