Caretaker Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, on Monday chaired a cabinet session in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister, Saadeh al-Shami, and ministers to discuss the repercussions of the earthquake and miscellaneous files.

Mikati earlier chaired an emergency meeting by the “National Committee for Disaster Risk Management”, which is affiliated to the Presidency of the Lebanese Government at the Grand Serail, to follow up on the adopted procedures during and after the earthquake that hit Lebanon at dawn on Monday.

A major 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit southern Turkey and northern Syria early Monday, killing more than 5000 people as it toppled buildings and triggered a frantic search for survivors in the rubble in cities and towns across the area.

The powerful quake, which hit in the early darkness of a winter morning, was strongly felt in Lebanon and Cyprus and caused panic there as it lasted for forty seconds. According to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Center, the quake was also felt in Palestine, Egypt, Georgia, Romania.

The quake was followed by dozens of aftershocks, with the strongest one having a magnitude of 6.6.

Source: NNA