More than 1400 people were killed as a result of two large earthquakes that occurred on Monday. One of magnitude 7.8 rocked central Turkey and northwest Syria, and another of magnitude 7.6 struck south-eastern Turkey.
According to the US Geological Survey, the first earthquake occurred with a 7.8 magnitude in the city of Gaziantep at 04:17 local time (01:17 GMT) with a depth of 17.9 kilometers (11 miles). It was one of the most powerful quakes at least in a century in the region.
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The European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) reported that the second earthquake was located 67 kilometers (42 miles) north-northeast of Kahramanmaraş, Turkey, at a depth of 2 kilometers and measured 7.7 on the Richter scale. It struck the region after 12 hours after the first hit.
The earthquake left at least 1400 people dead and thousands injured. The number of fatalities is still rising. People are being rescued from dozens of buildings that fell as a result of the earthquake. The number of deaths is higher in Turkey.
Affected areas
The official death toll in Turkey has risen to 912, while the number of injured has reached 5,383. Ten cities, including Gaziantep, Kahramanmaras, Hatay, Osmaniye, Adiyaman, Malatya, Sanliurfa, Adana, Diyarbakir, and Kilis, were reportedly affected, according to Turkish Interior Minister Suleymon Soylu.
The major Turkish city Gaziantep seems to have the highest death toll so far. Historically known as Antep, Gaziantep lies 90 kilometers from the Syrian border.
A government health official reported that more than 580 people had died and approximately 1089 had been injured in Syria, a country already devastated by more than 11 years of civil war. The government reported that deaths were reported in Aleppo, Latakia, Hama, and Tartus.
Affects on Syria
According to Mazen Kiwara, Middle East regional director for the Syrian American Medical Society, the amount of people in need of medical care in Syria is “overwhelming,” particularly since some hospitals were destroyed by the earthquake.
Kiwara remarked, “Right now we have a crisis, in addition to very bad weather conditions and collapsed buildings. The effort should be focused on the humanitarian response, especially in shelter and health to protect the population of more than 1.5 million people in northwest Syria alone.”
Ismail Al Abdullah, a civil defense worker from Syria, spoke to the BBC from Sarmada, a Syrian town close to the Turkish border. He said, “Many buildings in different cities and villages in northwestern Syria collapsed, destroyed by this earthquake. Our teams responded to all the sites and the buildings – and still, now, many families are under the rubble. We are trying to save them but it’s a very hard task for us.
“We need help. We need the international community to do something, to help us, to support us. Northwestern Syria is now a disaster area. We need help from everyone to save our people,” Al Abdullah added.
Affects on Turkey
Turkish seismologists determined the magnitude of the first earthquake be 7.4. Minutes afterward, they claimed, the area experienced a second tremor. After 12 hours after the first earthquake, there was another earthquake. Turkey is located in one of the earthquake-prone regions of the planet. In 1999, a massive earthquake shook the northwest of the country, causing the deaths of more than 17,000 people.
Schools and airports closed: According to Turkey’s vice president Fuat Oktay, schools would be closed for a week in the ten towns and provinces affected by the earthquake. Oktay added that civilian flights to and from the airport in the province of Hatay have been suspended, and airports in Maraş, Adana, and Antep are also closed.
Lira slips to new record low: In the wake of the big earthquake, Turkey’s lira hit a new record low and its stock markets fell. This added to the pressures that already existed from a strong dollar, geopolitical risks, and rapid inflation.
Early in trading, the lira fell to 18.85 before recovering most of its losses. On Monday, the country’s main stock market index fell as much as 4.6%, while banks fell more than 5%. Moreover, by the end of the day, key indexes were only down about 2.5%.
World offers assistance
Many countries from all over the world have made specific aid proposals to Turkey and Syria today. Over 45 nations have offered assistance to Turkey, according to Turkey’s president. Some of the known offers are:
The Indian government announced that two teams from its 100-person disaster response force, which includes specially trained dog squads, were prepared to be transported to the disaster area. In collaboration with the Turkish government, medical personnel was getting ready and relief supplies were being deployed.
The European Union has launched its Copernicus emergency satellite mapping program to aid first responders on the ground. Moreover, the EU has dispatched more than 10 search and rescue teams to help Turkey.
The Russian Ministry of Emergencies stated that two IL-76 planes with 100 rescuers were ready to go to Turkey if necessary.
Spanish urban rescue teams are prepared to deploy to Turkey, according to the ministry of the interior of Spain. A rescue team from Poland would arrive with 76 firefighters and 8 dogs.
The fire department of Taiwan announced that it was preparing to send 13 tons of help to Turkey with a team of 130 people, five search dogs, and 13 search dogs.
“Aftershocks to continue for days, possibly months”
According to Chris Elders, professor at Curtin University’s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences in Perth, Australia, aftershocks following a major earthquake can last for “several days, several weeks, maybe even several months.” He continued that “people will continue to feel the consequences of the earthquake for some time in this area.”
Several aftershocks with a magnitude of four or five have already been recorded, he continued. Even though they were less intense than the 7.8 magnitude earthquake, they were nevertheless “very worrying.” According to Elders, the earthquake was felt with “much greater intensity than if it was deeper in the crust” because it happened at a relatively shallow depth of only about 17km (2 miles) below the earth’s surface.
