Rescuers search the rubble of buildings for casualties and survivors in the village of Salqin in Syria's rebel-held northwestern Idlib province, on the Turkish border, following an earthquake, February 7, 2023. (Credit Omar HAJ KADOUR / AFP)
BEIRUT — At least six Lebanese citizens were killed in Turkey and Syria during Monday morning's two deadly earthquakes, which brought severe damage to both countries.
The quakes killed more than 6,000 people all told.
On Tuesday evening, The mayor of al-Ghzayleh village municipality in Akkar confirmed to L'Orient Today the death of Suzanne Chamma. Like her husband Mohammad and their son (who both survived), she was pulled out of the rubble in Hatay, Turkey. Lebanon's ambassador in Turkey, Ghassan Mouallem, could not confirm the death.
The mayor of Bramiyeh, in Saida, confirmed Tuesday morning that Father Imad Daher, a priest of a Greek-Catholic parish in Aleppo and a native of Bramiyeh, died in the earthquake in Syria. "His body was found under the rubble of the building where he lived in Aleppo," he told L'Orient-Le Jour's local correspondent. The Greek Catholic Patriarchate confirmed this information to Talal Daher, charge d'affaires at the Lebanese Embassy in Syria, who added that "for the moment, no further casualties have been counted or confirmed."
Sawsan Nasouri and her daughter, Celine Haddam, both from Tripoli, were killed in the Syrian coastal city of Latakia during the quake, according to their relative, Ahmad Haddam. He explained to L'Orient Today that the mother and daughter were living in Syria because Celine was studying at university there.
Ahmad al-Sheikh, mayor of the municipality of Wadi Khaled, confirmed to L'Orient Today the death of Wissam al-Asaad and his daughter Nadwa, who were living in the Turkish city of Gaziantep.
More Lebanese are expected to be found beneath collapsed buildings in Turkey. The earthquakes were felt in Lebanon, and first caused panic among residents, causing traffic jams on some roads as people tried to flee their apartment buildings. Several construction projects were also damaged.