Sania Mirza, Shoaib Malik respond to catastrophe

Indian tennis star Sania Mirza and her husband, Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik, reacted to the powerful earthquakes which have caused devastations in Turkey and northwest Syria Monday morning.

A magnitude 7.8 jolt earlier today wreaked havoc across the two countries, while a second quake of 7.5 magnitude hit the southeast region of Turkey again.

The earthquake has claimed over 2,200 lives so far with bad weather conditions hampering rescue efforts, as people remained trapped under the rubble.

Considering the situation’s gravity, the Indian celebrity athlete took to Twitter asking God for mercy.

“Ya Allah reham,” Sania tweeted with emoji of hands lifted for prayers followed by “Turkey and Syria” as well as an emoji of a broken heart.

Sania, via her tweet, expressed her heartbreak at the catastrophic quakes which have rendered people of the two nations vulnerable in the bitter winter weather.

Meanwhile, Malik, too, took to the micro-blogging site to extend his sympathies to those impacted by the natural disaster.

“Let us not give up to these challenging times,” Malik tweeted.

In his tweet, the cricketer extended his “deepest sympathies” to the victims for their “loss”.

“Please accept my deepest sympathies for your loss in this natural disaster…,” he wrote on the bird app.

Under his tweet, Malik also shared an image that read: “Prayers for Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Palestine and all affected places!”

The massive jolts in the two neighbouring nations have damaged infrastructure and triggered the loss of lives.

Poor internet connections and damaged roads between some of the worst-hit cities in Turkey’s south, homes to millions of people, hindered efforts to assess and address the impact.

While the disaster has flattened apartment blocks and heaped more destruction on Syrian cities — already devastated by years of war.

It was not immediately clear how much damage had been done by the second quake, which like the first was felt across the region and endangered rescuers struggling to pull casualties from the rubble.