A group of secondary school students and staff from Cork, who are in Turkey for an Erasmus Student Exchange, are safe and well - following a 7.8 magnitude earthquake in central Turkey and northwest Syria.
Authorities say at least 1,300 people have died in the quake, which struck during the night, and which was also felt as far away as Lebanon and Cyprus
That figure is expected to continue to rise as rescue workers search through rubble in cities and towns across the region.
The group from Coláiste Éamann Rís in Ballyphehane were in Istanbul when the quake struck, and had not yet reached their partner school in Malayta, which was badly damaged.
Turkey's declared a national emergency - with their disaster agency appealing for international assistance.
A rescue operation is currently underway with rubble and collapsed buildings being sifted through for survivors.
Nat O'Grady lectures in 'Disasters and Human Geography' and says the tremor has caused "absolute devastation":
"A lot of time, a lot of those plans and responses and rescue efforts might go out the window to an extent, and there has to be quite a lot of improvisation as well in an earthquake of the scale we have witnessed over the last hours".
Very sad news from our partner school in #Malayta #Turkey - a text from their students;"this place has officially disappeared many people have died the number is increasing constantly".Our students were due to go there today-thankfully they are all safe in Istanbul. #earthquake pic.twitter.com/hA1ZnF6ODu
— Coláiste Éamann Rís - Cork City (@DeerparkCBS) February 6, 2023
