4 Syrian-Armenians confirmed dead in Aleppo in earthquake

4 Syrian-Armenians were killed in the devastating earthquake in Syria according to latest information, Hovhannes Alexanyan, the Head of the Strategy Development Department at the Office of the High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs of Armenia told Armenpress.

“As of this moment we have four victims who died in Aleppo. There are injured people also, we have no clear number now,” Alexanyan said.

Armenian organizations are now conducting a monitoring to assess damages.

In Turkey, the Holy Forty Martyrs Armenian Church in Iskenderun suffered heavy damages, he added.

 One of the strongest earthquakes to hit the region in a century shook residents from their beds at around 4 a.m. on Monday morning, sending tremors as far away as Lebanon and Israel.

The epicenter of the 7.8-magnitude quake was 23 kilometers (14.2 miles) east of Nurdagi, in Turkey’s Gaziantep province, at a depth of 24.1 kilometers (14.9 miles), CNN reported citing the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

In Turkey, at least 912 people have died and 5,385 are injured, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a televised address Monday. In neighboring Syria, at least 476 people have died, including 326 mostly in the regions of Aleppo, Hama, Latakia and Tartus, according to Syrian state news agency, which also reported at least 1,042 injuries.