“I hear their voices. I know they are alive, but there is no one to save them,” added the 60-year-old.
The Syrian health ministry reported damage in the provinces of Aleppo, Latakia, Hama and Tartus, where Russia is leasing a naval facility.
Even before the tragedy, buildings in Aleppo – Syria’s pre-war commercial center – often collapsed due to dilapidated infrastructure.
After the quake, inmates mostly members of the Islamic State group in northwestern Syria fled the prison, with at least 20 surviving, a source at the facility told AFP.
Turkey is one of the most active earthquake zones in the world.
The country’s last 7.8-magnitude quake occurred in 1939, when 33,000 people were killed in eastern Ergincan province.
In 1999 a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck the Turkish region of Duz, killing more than 17,000 people.
Experts have long warned that a major earthquake could devastate Istanbul, a megalopolis of 16 million people filled with dilapidated homes.