Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi spoke with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in a phone call to offer condolences and support after the deadly earthquake, Egypt's presidency said in a statement on Tuesday.
Monday's magnitude 7.8 quake and a cascade of strong aftershocks cut a swath of destruction that stretched hundreds of kilometers (miles) across southeastern Türkiye and neighboring Syria, toppling thousands of buildings and heaping more misery on a region shaped by Syria’s 12-year war and refugee crisis. One temblor that followed the first registered at magnitude 7.5, powerful in its own right.
Search teams and emergency aid from around the world poured into Türkiye and Syria on Tuesday as rescuers working in freezing temperatures dug — sometimes with their bare hands — through the remains of buildings flattened by a powerful earthquake.
The death toll soared above 5,300 and was still expected to rise.
