A strong earthquake of magnitude 7.9 struck southern Turkey early on Monday and was felt in Cyprus, Lebanon and Syria, collapsing structures and sending out homeowners into the snowy streets, Reuters quoted witnesses and broadcasters said.The German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) said the quake struck at a depth of 10 km (6 miles) near the southern Turkish city of Kahramanmaras, while the EMSC monitoring service stated the opportunity of a tsunami risk was being evaluated.The trembling lasted about a minute and shattered windows, according to a Reuters witness in Diyarbakir, 350 km (218 miles) to the east, check out the report.Broadcasters TRT and Haberturk showed images of people gathered around trashed building in Kahramanmaras, looking for survivors.The governor of Turkey&& s southeastern province of Sanliurfa province, Salih Ayhan, said on Twitter, && We have actually destroyed buildings& & and prompted people to move to safe locations.Turkey&& s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) put the magnitude of the quake at 7.4 near Kahramanmaras and the larger city of Gaziantep, close to the Syrian border, Reuters reported.Syrian state media said a large number of buildings collapsed in the province of Aleppo, while a source in the Hama civil service said numerous buildings collapsed there.&& Paintings fell off the walls in the house,& & said Samer, a local of Damascus, the Syrian capital.

&& I awakened frightened.

Now we&& re all dressed and standing at the door.&& People in Damascus, in addition to in the Lebanese cities of Beirut and Tripoli ran into the street on foot and took to their cars and trucks to escape their structures in case of collapses, witnesses said.The location is regularly hit by strong earthquakes, read the report.The head of the Turkish Red Cross said it was mobilising resources for the region as it had actually received information of major damage and collapsed buildings, and advised individuals to evacuate damaged homes.The post Turkey earthquake of magnitude 7.9 shakes central area, Syria initially appeared on Ariana News.