British survivor describes the horrifying moment earthquake in Turkey started

A British man who was on holiday in Turkey when the earthquake hit has spoken out about what he saw.

**Warning: Contains descriptions some may find upsetting.**

On Monday, 6 February at just after 04:17 local time (01:17 GMT), a 7.8 magnitude 'major' earthquake struck Turkey near its border with Syria.

At the time of reporting, the number of people who have died as a result of the earthquake - in both Turkey and Syria - has reached over 9,000.

British citizen, Timothy Whiting - who was on holiday in Hatay when the earthquake struck - has since opened up about the devastation he saw around him.

CTK/ Alamy Stock Photo

In an interview with Good Morning Britain, Whiting explained how he could hear 'voices coming from the rubble'.

He said: "Everyone was hearing voices [...] and trying to get to them and seeing if there was any way they could help them, but quickly seeing there was no way that they could.

"They would be hacking at the concrete with bits of metal they could find, but in Hatay, from 4:00am in the morning when I was there until 10 hours later when I was able to leave, there were no emergency services and no one coordinating anything, so people were trying to help but then having to leave.

"[...] They were at least trying to locate where voices were coming from and these were the only voices we could hear and you knew that for every voice you could here, there were tens of people that you wouldn't in every building."

ITV

Whiting recalled how he saw people 'running and screaming that their families were still trapped'.

"They were trying to get back to the buildings but people were trying to prevent then to running to the buildings and unsafe areas," he added.

He also highlighted how many refugees were in the area he was holidaying in.

"This whole region is full of refugees. People who don't want to live in these areas but have been forced to live in these really, really dangerous areas because not only were they [not] prevented from leaving Turkey these past 10 years when they fled their homes, but within Turkey they've only been allowed to stay in these areas," he continued.

"And this whole area, it's been known for years, that an earthquake this magnitude is going to come, it's right on one of the main fault lines, but they've allowed these cities to become really overpopulated with people living in really inadequate five, 10, 15-storey buildings."

ITV

United States Geographical Survey (USGS) scientist David Wald said: "It’s difficult to watch this tragedy unfold, especially since we’ve known for a long time that the buildings in the region were not designed to withstand earthquakes.

"An earthquake this size has the potential to be damaging anywhere in the world, but many structures in this region are particularly vulnerable."

Whiting resolved: "When an earthquake like this strikes, it obviously causes this devastation to the poorest people and the most vulnerable."

If you’d like to help those who’ve been affected by the recent devastating events unfolding in Turkey and Syria you can donate to the British Red Cross' emergency appeal.