KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 14 — Eighty-five Malaysians who were in Syria when a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck the country and neighbouring Turkey last week have been found safe, according to Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Zambry Abd Kadir.

Zambry said information was conveyed to the Malaysian government by the Syrian authorities, News Straits Times reported today.

"Based on the feedback from Syria, all 85 Malaysians there are reported to be safe and are not in the disaster areas. At the same time, an aid mission to Syria is being mobilised.

"So far, only four Malaysians are in the disaster areas, consisting of two doctors at hospitals there and two others who are married to local residents,” he was quoted as saying.

He added that the government has set up a Turkey and Syria Earthquake Humanitarian Aid Coordination Meeting to keep abreast of the situation.

The meeting is chaired by his ministry's head of protocol and attended by the Turkish ambassador to Malaysia, representatives from the National Disaster Management Agency, police and the Prime Minister's Department.

A large earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale that hit southern Turkey and northwestern Syria on February 6 has claimed thousands of lives and injured tens of thousands others.

Aftershocks were also reportedly felt in Cyprus and Lebanon.

Malaysia has sent manpower to aid in the search-and-rescue as well as disaster relief efforts.