Rescue services and volunteers help to evacuate one of those affected. /
The Turkish authorities ask for international help after the earthquake, measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, which claims more than 300 deaths and a thousand missing on the border with the Arab republic
More than 300 people have died and around a thousand have been injured after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake registered in the south of Turkey, next to the border with Syria. The Ottoman authorities have reported that at least 284 people have lost their lives, in addition to 2,320 injured and 440 missing, while the Arab country has already reported 237 deaths and 639 injured in government-controlled areas, joined by dozens of killed in the northern areas under rebel control. The figures do not stop rising and the images that arrive from the Turkish and Syrian cities show great destruction with dozens of tall buildings reduced to rubble.
The epicenter of the earthquake, which lasted about 30 seconds, was registered at 4:17 local time (two less in the Iberian Peninsula) 33 kilometers south of the Turkish city of Gaziantep, in the province of Kahramanmaras, 600 kilometers southeast of the capital Ankara and only 60 from the Syrian border. The tremor has been noted in Lebanon, Cyprus or Cairo. Italy has activated the tsunami alert.
Map of the region affected by the earthquake. /
The Turkish Disaster and Emergency Authority has sent its teams to the area and says that there are at least 10 cities affected, raises the alarm level to 4 and calls for international help. The bad weather -intense rain and sleet- makes rescue work difficult and from cities like Istanbul and Ankara flights to the East are cut off due to the storm. The Turkish government has issued an international alarm asking for help. “We are receiving notifications from many places, our rescue teams have been dispatched to the area, cargo planes are being prepared and dispatched,” Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said.
It is more complicated to know what is happening in northern Syria, but here the death toll has already risen to more than a hundred and the tremor has affected the provinces of Hama, Aleppo and Latakia. A spokesman for the Syrian Ministry of Health has indicated that the balance, which is provisional, includes victims from several cities such as the capital, Aleppo, in the north of the country; Hama, 140 kilometers south of the capital; or Latakia, in the west, according to what the Sana news agency has learned. “All public and private hospitals are on alert. The wounded continue to arrive in waves,” Aleppo Health Director Ziad Hage Taha told Reuters.
In addition, a general emergency and supply plan has been implemented in the affected places, while medical teams, including ambulances and mobile clinics, have been dispatched from various regions. The country’s authorities have indicated that there are several dozen residential buildings, located in various neighborhoods, which have collapsed as a result of the earthquakes.
In all the affected areas of Syria, many buildings have been rendered useless after the earthquake damage has been the last chapter of destruction after twelve years of a bloody civil war. The armed conflict has divided the country since 2011 between territories under government control (66%), Kurdish militias (25%) and rebel groups (9%), making it extremely difficult to count the deaths of the earthquake. President Bashar al-Assad is holding an emergency cabinet meeting with him to decide next steps. The White Helmets, members of the Syrian civil defense, declared a state of emergency in the northwest, controlled by the opposition. The voluntary organization calls on humanitarian organizations to “intervene quickly”.
Idlib, Syria – civilians and White Helmets climb through the snow and ice over destroyed residential buildings to pull earthquake victims from the rubble. The initial quake was a 7.8 magnitude with an aftershock of 6.7 causing landslides and destruction. pic.twitter.com/uKpFnATMug
Muhammad Najem (@muhammadnajem20) February 6, 2023
The strongest in twenty years
Turkey, the meeting point of the Anatolian and Eurasian tectonic plates, is one of the most active seismic zones in the world. The last major earthquake on Turkish territory occurred on August 17, 1999 in Izmit, in the northwestern region of Anatolia, with a magnitude of 7.6. Then it left more than 17,000 dead On the other hand, the director general of the National Seismic Center, Raed Ahmed, explained to Sana that this earthquake is “the strongest” since 1995, when the national seismic monitoring network was installed.