KUALA LUMPUR – The Malaysian Student Association in Turkiye (Masat) confirmed that it has not received any reports of Malaysian students affected by the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that jolted southern Turkiye on Monday morning.
Its president Adib Azman, when contacted by Bernama via WhatsApp, said the association had alerted and notified students in the affected areas including Gaziantep, the city with the closest proximity to the epicentre.
According to the third-year student at Istanbul University, two Malaysian students who are studying at a university in Gaziantep, were confirmed safe.
“We have also checked with the tahfiz students (Malaysian) there and it was reported that their dormitories collapsed due to the earthquake. Some of their friends from other countries were killed.
“Thank God, so far no Malaysian tahfiz students have been affected, and it has been reported that they have already taken temporary refuge in a mosque,” he said.
Adib, who majored in Islamic Studies (Uluslararası Ilahiyat), said in total, there were about 200 Malaysian students in Turkiye, of which 168 of them are university students registered with the association, while the rest were tahfiz school students.
“In this regard, the Malaysian Embassy in Ankara and the consulate-general in Istanbul have received information about the whereabouts of the students and have been given the phone numbers of the students there in case they need any assistance,” he added.
Adib has also advised Malaysian students in the country to immediately inform Masat if they face any emergency and also register with the association for their safety.
At the time of the earthquake, he was in Istanbul and felt a small tremor, he said.
“This is my third year in Turkiye and I’ve experienced earthquakes twice. Istanbul rarely experiences strong earthquakes, and we usually experience slight tremors.”
“There was an earthquake in an area two hours away from Istanbul and we felt the tremor here…it was at 3 in the morning. I woke up, (and) my bed and wardrobe shook for a minute,” he said.
Another Malaysian living in Istanbul, Mohd Khaidir Zainoddin, also felt a small tremor when the earthquake occurred, but things were back to normal in the morning.
“In Istanbul, we were experiencing a strong storm, snow, and heavy rain. When the earthquake took place, I was sleeping, and I was awakened by a little shaking,” he said.
The part-time employee of a local television company said that he has not been able to contact his friends who were in the affected areas.
According to media reports, the earthquake that hit southern Turkiye early this morning near the city of Gaziantep has claimed 912 lives in Turkiye, while another 476 deaths were recorded in neighbouring Syria. Meanwhile, another strong earthquake of magnitude 7.2 occurred 99km west of Malatya, Turkey at 6.24pm today. – Bernama, February 6, 2023
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