Victims of earthquake in Turkey were 2200 people
2023.02.06 13:51
Victims of earthquake in Turkey were 2200 people
By Kristina Sobol
Budrigannews.com – On Monday, a massive earthquake in Turkey and northwest Syria claimed the lives of over 2,200 people and injured thousands more. The earthquake flattened apartment buildings and caused additional damage to Syrian cities that had already been devastated by years of war.
The worst earthquake to hit Turkey in this century was a magnitude 7.8 quake that struck before sunrise in bitter winter weather. A magnitude 7.7 earthquake of similar size followed shortly thereafter.
The magnitude of the second quake, which, like the first, was felt throughout the region and endangered rescuers attempting to extract victims from the rubble, was not immediately clear.
“We felt like we were being cradled. At home, there were nine of us. In an ambulance near the wreckage of a seven-story block where she had lived in Diyarbakir, southeast Turkey, a woman with a broken arm and injuries to her face said, “I’m waiting for them.” Her two sons are still in the rubble.
According to the disaster agency, 1,498 people died in Turkey. According to figures from the Damascus government and the United Nations, at least 716 people were killed in Syria.
Assessment and response efforts were hampered by inadequate internet connections and damaged roads connecting some of the worst-hit southern cities in Turkey, home to millions of people.
Overnight, it was anticipated that temperatures would drop to or near freezing in some areas, deteriorating the situation for those left homeless or encased in debris. After the country was hit by snowstorms over the weekend, it started to rain on Monday.
Since 1999, when a tremor of a similar magnitude struck the heavily populated eastern Marmara Sea region near Istanbul, more than 17,000 people perished, this earthquake has already claimed the most lives in Turkey.
President Tayyip Erdogan, who is getting ready for a tough election in May, called it a historic disaster and said it was the worst earthquake Turkey had seen since 1939. However, he said the government was doing everything they could.
He stated, “Even though the winter season, the cold weather, and the nighttime earthquake make things more difficult,” “Everyone is putting their heart and soul into efforts.”
Following the second earthquake, a building collapse in the southern province of Adana was shown on Turkish state television station TRT. It was unclear at the time whether it had been evacuated.
The health ministry reported 461 deaths and more than 1,326 injuries in Syria, which had already been devastated by the civil war for more than 11 years. A spokesperson for the United Nations reported that 255 people had died in the Syrian rebel-held northwest.
According to the Norwegian Refugee Council, the earthquake will only exacerbate the humanitarian crisis that millions of Syrians are already facing as a result of the civil war.
Journalists witnessed dozens of rescue workers searching through a pile of rubble in the Turkish city of Diyarbakir for survivors. The pile contained everything that was left of a large building. As they listened for the sounds of life, they occasionally raised their hands and pleaded for silence.
From a city building that had collapsed, men carried a girl who was covered in blankets. Drone footage captured rescue workers lifting masonry slabs from a rubble hill in Izmir. The hill was once home to a building.
Twitter footage showed two adjacent buildings in Aleppo, Syria, collapsing one after the other, spewing dust across the street.
The buildings had fallen within hours of the earthquake, which was also felt in Cyprus and Lebanon, according to two residents of the city, which has suffered significant damage from the war.
Where once stood a multi-story building, a pile of concrete, steel rods, and clothing bundles lay in the Aleppo province town of Jandaris, which was held by Syrian rebels.
“Under there, there were 12 families. None of them emerged. “Not one,” said a young man of thin build, his eyes wide open in shock, and he bandaged his hand.
Raed Fares, a member of the Syrian White Helmets, described their situation as “a race against time to save the lives of those under the rubble.” Raed Fares is a rescue service in rebel-held territory that is known for rescuing people from the rubble of buildings that have been destroyed by air strikes.
A Syrian resident of Atareb, Abdul Salam al Mahmoud, described the experience as “like the apocalypse.”
A spokesperson for the United Nations office for coordinating humanitarian affairs in northwestern Syria stated that an increase in casualties was anticipated.
The spokesperson stated, “It just adds on to all the layers of suffering.”
A Reuters journalist witnessed the apparent death of a child being carried from the wreckage of a building in the city of Hama, which is controlled by the Syrian government.
In the sleet and heavy rain, rescue workers were shown searching for survivors on Syrian state television. According to his office, President Bashar al-Assad called an emergency cabinet meeting to assess the damage and decide on next steps.
In footage released by Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), a rescue worker crawled into a collapsed building in the Turkish city of Malatya in an effort to locate a trapped survivor.
“What shade of color do you have on? Do you have pink clothing? The rescue worker’s voice could be heard saying, “Please take care of yourself for the time being, I cannot see anything else.”
The historic Gaziantep Castle was severely damaged, as evidenced by footage on CNNTurk.
Erdogan stated that 45 nations had offered to assist with the rescue efforts.
Jake Sullivan, the White House’s national security adviser, stated that the nation was prepared to offer assistance and was “profoundly concerned” about the earthquake.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the quake occurred 17.9 kilometers down. A series of earthquakes, one of 6.7 magnitude, were reported.
Seismic fault lines cross the region.
Mohammad Kashani, Associate Professor of Structural and Earthquake Engineering at the University of Southampton, stated, “This earthquake was extremely destructive due to the combination of the large magnitude and shallow depth.”
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