STAFF and students of a Cork city secondary school have avoided disaster after an earthquake hit the area of Turkey they were due to travel to yesterday.

Aaron Wolfe, principal of Coláiste Éamann Rís, told The Echo that they were “safe” in Istanbul when the 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck the south-eastern side of the country.

Mr Wolfe said luck was on their side after initial plans to visit Malatya on Sunday fell through.

The group of eight, including Mr Wolfe, deputy principal Edel Farrell, Erasmus co-ordinator Sean Buckley, and five third-year students, were originally due to travel to Malatya on Sunday night but had changed their flight to Monday.

Speaking to The Echo, Government minister Simon Coveney, in whose Cork South Central constituency the school stands, said: “I understand Cork students were due to travel to the area from Istanbul but thankfully delayed travelling and avoided the turmoil.

“Parents and families will be so relieved not to have our students caught up in such tragic circumstances. We look forward to their safe return home.”

The US Geological Survey said the tremor struck Turkey at 4.17am local time at a depth of 17.9km near the city of Gaziantep, with seismologists describing the quake as one of the largest ever recorded in Turkey.

Twelve hours later, a second quake, which had a magnitude of 7.5, hit Turkey’s Elbistan district of Kahramanmaras province.

Mr Wolfe was among those travelling to the school’s partner school in Malatya, an area affected by a large earthquake.

Speaking to The Echo from Istanbul, Mr Wolfe explained that staff and students stopped in Istanbul and remained there overnight.

The original flight options proved unsuitable, leaving too long of a layover in between flights, which led them to choose the option of flying on the following day instead.

They were due to visit Şehit Gökhan Ertan Vocational School, with whom they have an Erasmus partnership.

Mr Wolfe said people in Malatya were not allowed inside due to the dangerous potential of shock waves yesterday.

“One of the students involved in the exchange has said that their town has literally disappeared,” he said.

“The teachers in the school have joined rescue operations. No one is allowed inside, they are all out on the streets because of shock waves.”

He said the school’s thoughts and prayers are with all those who have lost their lives and homes.

Death toll

The death toll surged past 4,000 as rescuers in Turkey and Syria worked overnight last night to find more survivors of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit the region early on Monday.

Survivors cried out for help from within mountains of debris as first responders contended with rain and snow.

Seismic activity continued to rattle the region, including another jolt nearly as powerful as the initial quake, with workers carefully pulling away slabs of concrete and reaching for bodies as desperate families waited for news of loved ones.

The US Geological Survey measured Monday’s quake at 7.8, with a depth of 11 miles. Hours later, a 7.5 magnitude temblor, likely triggered by the first, struck more than 60 miles away.

The second jolt caused a multi-storey apartment building in the Turkish city of Sanliurfa to topple onto the street in a cloud of dust as bystanders screamed, according to video of the scene.

Thousands of buildings were reported collapsed in a wide area extending from Syria’s cities of Aleppo and Hama to Turkey’s Diyarbakir, more than 200 miles to the north-east.

In Turkey alone, more than 5,600 buildings were destroyed, authorities said. Hospitals were damaged, and one collapsed in the city of Iskenderun.

Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that yesterday’s disaster was the worst the country had seen since 1939 when the Erzincan earthquake in eastern Turkey killed nearly 33,000 people.

In 1999, however, there was another deadly quake that killed more than 17,000 in Turkey’s northwest.

Cork school students and staff

The staff and students from Cork remain safe in Istanbul but are now “stuck” there as their return flight which is already booked does not depart for another seven days.

“We can’t go to our destination obviously, so we are stuck,” said Mr Wolfe.

“The flights home are too expensive.

“So we went out..haggling and have a hotel for the eight of us for seven nights at a cost of €2,500.

“There are so many people worse off than us. It is heartbreaking to see what the other school has lost.”

He said that Tánaiste Micheál Martin had been in contact and offered them assistance, but he said they are “doing fine”.

Taking to Twitter, Mr Martin said he was “shocked and saddened” to learn of the devastating earthquake and said the country’s thoughts go out to all those who lost loved ones, the injured, and first responders.

“Ireland stands ready to support local and international relief efforts,” he said.

Speaking to The Echo yesterday, the minister for enterprise, trade and employment, Simon Coveney, described the situation in Turkey as “tragic”.

“What’s happening in southern Turkey and northwestern Syria as a result of multiple earthquakes is so tragic, with significant loss of life,” he said.

“These are already poor and vulnerable people, many Syrian refugees fleeing war. Ireland will do what we can to support the impacted population.

“I understand Cork students were due to travel to the area from Istanbul, but thankfully delayed travelling and avoided the turmoil.

“Parents and families will be so relieved not to have our students caught up in such tragic circumstances. We look forward to their safe return home.”

The group of eight staff and students will remain in Istanbul and travel back home next week.

The Irish Embassy in Turkey encouraged Irish citizens in affected areas who may require consular assistance to contact the out-of-hours duty service on +90 312 459 10 00 or to email ankaraembassy@dfa.ie.

“Our hearts are with the Turkish people following the awful earthquake this morning. We especially wish to offer our condolences to all those who have lost loved ones and wish all those injured a speedy recovery,” the embassy posted on social media.