Turkey, Syria quake could affect up to 23 million: WHO

Some 23 million people, including 1.4 million children, across Turkey and Syria, were likely affected by Monday’s earthquake and its aftershocks, according to the World Health Organization.

The WHO said it was dispatching emergency supplies, including trauma and emergency surgical kits, to the region as it activated a network of emergency medical teams.

“It’s now a race against time,” said WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “Every minute, every hour that passes, the chances of finding survivors alive diminishes.”

The first quake, of 7.8 magnitude, struck in the early hours near the city of Gaziantep, in southern Turkey. Hours later, as people were still searching for survivors in the rubble, there was a similar-sized quake, 100km to the north.