Situation
On Monday 6th February 2023, southeast Türkiye was hit by a magnitude 7.8 earthquake at 04:17 local time, the most powerful to strike the country since 1939. The epicentre was near Ataler in Gaziantep Province. More than 11,000 buildings were destroyed and many thousands of people were trapped in the rubble. Many of these buildings were flats with several floors. As authorities were responding, a second 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck just hours later at 13:30 local time with an epicentre at Ekinozu in the same region.
The impact was severe in southern Türkiye in towns such as Gaziantep, Malatya, Kahramanmaras, Hatay, Adana and Osmaniye. Northwest Syria has also been badly affected, not just in larger towns such as Aleppo, Idlib, Latakia, Hama and Tartus, but in both countries, many smaller towns have been devastated.
A large number of rescue workers are on the scene and as they search through the rubble, the impact is becoming clearer. At this stage, 41,000 fatalities have been confirmed and the number of injuries is estimated to be 120,000, although thankfully, Turkish authorities rapidly transferred them to acute hospitals elsewhere in Türkiye and most have been discharged.
As with all earthquakes, there have been over 2,100 aftershocks which have traumatised displaced communities. As a result, many survivors are in their cars overnight or huddled around ad-hoc camp fires, too scared to go near buildings, many of which are unstable. The climate is wet and very cold making it much harder, especially for the elderly and very young children to cope with the conditions.
Humanity First previously responded to the Izmir earthquake in 1999, and for over a decade, has been assisting Syrian refugees in Gaziantep and Iskenderun in south-east Türkiye.
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.