New earthquakes in Turkey and Syria destroy cities
2023.02.21 03:23
New earthquakes in Turkey and Syria destroy cities
By Ray Johnson
Budrigannews.com – Just two weeks after the larger quake that killed more than 47,000 people and damaged or destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes, a second earthquake struck the border region between Turkey and Syria on Monday.
The 6.4-magnitude quake on Monday was felt in Syria, Egypt, and Lebanon. It was centered near the southern Turkish city of Antakya.
According to the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), it struck at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles).
According to the HaberTurk broadcaster, Hatay Mayor Lutfu Savas had received reports that some people were trapped beneath the rubble following the most recent earthquake. Suleyman Soylu, the Interior Minister, stated that over 200 people had been injured and three had died.
The Disaster and Emergency Management Authority of the country, AFAD, reported one death in Samandag, where additional buildings collapsed, but the majority of the town had already fled after the initial earthquakes. The dark, deserted streets were lined with piles of garbage and broken furniture.
According to Muna Al Omar, she was inside a tent in a park in the center of Antakya when the ground began to heave once more.
She wept as she held her seven-year-old son in her arms and said, “I thought the earth was going to split open under my feet.”
Hours earlier, while on a visit to Turkey, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that Washington would assist “for as long as it takes” as rescue efforts following the Feb. 6 earthquake and its subsequent tremors were winding down and the focus shifted to urgent shelter and reconstruction work.
The death toll from the earthquakes two weeks ago in Turkey increased to 41,156 on Monday, according to AFAD. It was anticipated that the death toll would continue to rise, as 385,000 apartments were known to have been destroyed or severely damaged and many people were still missing.
According to President Tayyip Erdogan, the construction of nearly 200,000 apartments in 11 of Turkey’s stricken provinces will begin next month.
According to the U.S. State Department, the total amount of humanitarian aid provided by the United States to Turkey and Syria in response to the earthquake has reached $185 million.
According to the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, approximately 356,000 pregnant women are among the earthquake survivors and require immediate access to medical care.
They include approximately 38,800 women who will give birth within the next month, including 226,000 women in Turkey and 130,000 in Syria. A large number of them were protecting in camps or presented to frosty temperatures and attempting to get food or clean water.
The majority of deaths in Syria, already shattered by more than a decade of civil war, have occurred in the northwest, where 4,525 people were reported killed, according to the United Nations. Aid efforts are hampered by the fact that the region is ruled by insurgents at war with President Bashar al-Assad’s supporters.
According to Syrian officials, 1,414 people were killed in Assad’s control areas.
According to the humanitarian organization Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), a group of 14 of its trucks entered northwestern Syria on Sunday from Turkey to assist with rescue efforts.
The World Food Program has also been putting pressure on authorities in that region to stop preventing aid from reaching areas controlled by the Syrian government.
A spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs stated that as of Monday morning, 197 trucks carrying UN humanitarian aid had entered northwest Syria through two border crossings.
In order to get in touch with relatives who have been affected by the destruction, thousands of Syrian refugees living in Turkey have returned to their homes in northwest Syria.
Beginning early on Monday, hundreds of Syrians lined up to cross the border at the Turkish Cilvegozu crossing.
According to Mustafa Hannan, who dropped off his pregnant wife and three-year-old son, 350 people were waiting.
After their Antakya home collapsed, the 27-year-old car electrician announced that his family would leave for a few months, fulfilling the promise made by authorities that they would be able to spend up to six months in Syria without losing the opportunity to return to Turkey.
He stated, “I’m worried they won’t be allowed back.” We have already been cut off from our country. Are we also going to be cut off from our families at this point? My life will be lost if I rebuild here but they cannot return.
