Two earthquakes in Turkey and Syria with a magnitude greater than 7.5 degrees have left over 35.000 dead and more than 85.000 injured. Rescue teams continue to work to locate people trapped under the rubble. The Turkish government has issued an international alert asking for help. Several countries, including Spain, have decided to send rescue teams and humanitarian aid

So far, more than 35.000 people have died and over 85.000 have been injured due to a strong 7.8 magnitude earthquake that occurred the morning of February 6 with its epicenter in southeastern Turkey, near the border with Syria, according to Turkish authorities. The seismic event has also affected other countries in the region, such as Lebanon and Iraq.

While rescue and search operations were being carried out, with a nine-hour difference, a second 7.6 magnitude earthquake on the Richter scale and a series of aftershocks shook the already devastated southeast Turkey. The epicenter of this new tremor was in Elbistan, in the province of Kahramanmaras, about 80 kilometers north of the first. Rescue operations were complicated by aftershocks from the earthquake, as more than twenty were detected since the first major jolt occurred early in the morning.

For his part, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has mourned that his country is experiencing “the greatest tragedy” since the great earthquake of Erzincan in 1939, which left 30,000 dead.

Turkey’s earthquake is already the deadliest in the region in more than a century with more than 35,000 dead. Turkish authorities issue more than 113 arrest warrants for negligent construction.