Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks to press after 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes hit southern provinces of Turkey, on February 07, 2023 in Ankara, Turkey.
Mustafa Kamaci | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared a three-month state of emergency in 10 of the country’s provinces Tuesday.
Turkey, and neighboring Syria, are reeling from two consecutive earthquakes — the region’s strongest in nearly a century — that have devastated huge swathes of territory, taking lives and buildings with it.
At the time of writing, the death toll from the quakes is above 5,100, with many still missing and critically injured. And shortly after the seismic disaster left tens of thousands of people homeless, a brutal winter storm set in, threatening yet more lives. On Tuesday, Turkey’s government announced the start of seven days of mourning.
The quakes, which took place nine hours apart and measured 7.8 in Turkey and 7.5 in Syria on the Richter scale, destroyed at least 6,000 buildings, many while people were still inside them. Rescue efforts are continuing — Turkey’s government has deployed nearly 25,000 search and rescue personnel — and countries around the world have pledged aid, but emergency workers in both countries say they are completely overwhelmed.
Rescuers and civilians look for survivors under the rubble of collapsed buildings in Kahramanmaras, close to the quake’s epicentre, the day after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the country’s southeast, on February 7, 2023.
Adem Altan | Afp | Getty Images
Syria, already crippled from years of war and terrorism, is the least prepared for such a crisis. The affected regions are home to thousands of internally displaced people already living in dire conditions like tents and makeshift shacks, with very little health and emergency service infrastructure to rely on.
“Northwestern Syria — Idlib & Aleppo in particular — have suffered 12yrs of brutal conflict,” Charles Lister, a…
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