By Tuana Kardas, Year 11
Disclaimer: All numbers are updated for the 11th of February and may not represent the current official numbers.
Cries of anger, shock, and despair filled the morning air on Monday, February 6th, as millions of lives were forever altered. Striking South-Eastern Turkey near the Syrian border, two consecutive earthquakes sent tremors across hundreds of kilometers. The first, with a magnitude of 7.8 on the Moment Magnitude Scale, struck at 4:17 am, 23 km east of Nurdagi, Gaziantep. It broke nearly 100 km of the fault line, caused severe damage, and even sent shockwaves as far as Lebanon and Israel. The second hit was of a magnitude of 7.5 and occurred at 1:24 pm, only 95 km North of the original hit. Both impacts provoked over 60 aftershocks, resulting in devastating conditions throughout Turkey and Syria.
In the past 20 years, only six earthquakes of equivalent magnitude have struck. Turkey, although prone to tremors and minor earthquakes, the region affected by the recent earthquakes had not experienced disturbances on this scale in over 200 years. From a geographical point of view, the cause of the earthquake was due to tectonic plate movement. The Arabian plate moved northward, grinding against the Anatolian plate. This friction caused pressure to build up, causing one plate to be jerked and resulting in a horrific earthquake.
Unfortunately, the earthquake has taken the innocent lives of nearly 30,000 individuals, and the death toll is expected to continue rising. More so, it has injured over 40,000 people, displaced thousands, and brought homelessness to 17,000 people in Turkey and Syria.
The earthquake turned Turkish buildings near the epicenter into crumbled mountains of rubble and dust. It has been reported that over 11,000 buildings have collapsed, and as a precaution gas lines have been cut to reduce the risk of explosions, but have also left thousands without heating. Despite Turkish rescue efforts to recover from this disaster, this loss of homes, lives, and necessities, paired with a lack of rescue teams in the country, has resulted in desperate calls for international aid.
Syria, which already had over four million people relying on humanitarian assistance, has also been left in dire conditions. Over four hospitals of theirs have been damaged, and the country is also battling an ongoing cholera outbreak and a harsh winter with snow and heavy rain. The damage has caused temporary disturbance to the UN’s cross-border aid into Syria; however, all is being done to reach those in need.
In response to the critical conditions of both countries, numerous organizations, groups, and individuals have taken responsibility for helping Turkey and Syria during these troubled times. For example, the World Health Organization quickly activated its network of emergency medical teams in the affected countries. Furthermore, in addition to the European Union and NATO, many countries offered both economic and social aid and assistance. In the aftermath of the earthquakes, the Swiss Agency for Development and Coordination sent over eight rescue dogs and army personnel to help local rescue efforts. In addition, it dispatched a strong team of rescue workers from the Swiss Humanitarian Aid Unit to work alongside the coordinated international aid efforts. These generous contributions have helped speed up the recovery process and hopefully will bring peace to all affected by this catastrophic natural disaster.
