Earthquakes in Turkey and Syria: More than 1,800 dead, thousands injured

More than 1,800 people in both countries died and thousands were injured in severe earthquakes in Turkey on the border with Syria. In Turkey alone, 1,014 people lost their lives, the civil protection authority said. More than 5,300 were injured in the country. More than 2,400 people were rescued from the rubble.

In Syria, the death toll rose to more than 780 dead. Around 1,600 people were injured, reported Deputy Health Minister Ahmed Dhamirijeh on Syrian state television, as well as the aid organization Sams, which works in rebel-controlled areas of the country.

An earthquake with an epicenter near Kahramanmaraş shook southeast Turkey on Monday night. The Turkish disaster service Afad later corrected the magnitude of the main tremor from 7.4 to 7.7. Another earthquake measuring 6.6 was measured shortly afterwards in the province of Gaziantep. Another 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck south-east Turkey at noon. The epicenter was again in Kahramanmaraş, the Kandilli earthquake station in Istanbul reported.

Janine Wissler, party leader of the left, is currently traveling in the region – at the invitation of the opposition party HDP. Wissler describes her impressions: “Tonight’s earthquake was very frightening. Not only the strength of the earthquake, but also the unusually long duration. I saw people who fled their houses barefoot in minus temperatures, only in sandals. Worried for her own life and that of her loved ones.”

The HDP deputy with whom she was traveling tried, together with others, to free people with their bare hands from the rubble of a collapsed house, Wissler continued. “The earthquake surprised people in their sleep, I saw collapsed houses, people were buried under the rubble. International humanitarian aid is urgently needed throughout the region.”

Low temperatures and heavy snowfall exacerbated the emergency situation: “It’s a race against time. The large Syrian refugee camps are probably also affected, as well as those places in north-eastern Syria that are still suffering from the bombardments of the Turkish government and the infrastructure destroyed as a result,” explains the Left boss. Her conclusion: “There is an urgent need to ensure that the houses of all people living in Turkey are built to be earthquake-proof. It is shocking to see that many of the collapsed houses were only relatively recently built.”

The earthquakes were also felt in Lebanon, which borders Syria. In the capital Beirut, some residents fled their homes in haste. The earthquake was also registered in Israel. According to the Israeli police, there were no injuries or damage.

Rescue workers ask for help from the international community

According to the state news agency Sana, buildings in numerous cities in Syria collapsed. Rescue teams tried to pull people out of the rubble during the night and at dawn. According to the Sana news agency, the head of the National Earthquake Center, Raed Ahmed, said it was the strongest earthquake in Syria since 1995. President Bashar al-Assad called his cabinet for an emergency meeting.

“We are responding with everything we can to save those who are under the rubble,” said the head of the White Helmets rescue organization, Raed Al Saleh. “The hospitals are overloaded with seriously injured people,” said a spokesman for the organization. Rain and cold made operations even more difficult. “We urgently need the help of the international community,” said Basel Termanini, chairman of the Syrian American Medical Society (Sams), the dpa. The situation was “catastrophic”.

Rescue workers in Hama, Syria

(Photo: SANA/via Reuters)

According to Vice President Fuat Oktay, the earthquake was felt in ten provinces in Turkey. At least 1,700 buildings collapsed. The Interior Ministry said rescue teams from across the country would be brought together. In addition, alarm level four was declared and international help was requested. There were a total of 22 aftershocks, some strong.

Sub-zero temperatures in the affected provinces, airports closed

Weather conditions made rescue work difficult, Turkish President Erdoğan said. The affected provinces are currently below zero, and it is snowing in some areas. Several airports remained closed to civilian flights for the time being. It is about the airports in Hatay, Kahramanmaraş and Gaziantep, said Vice President Oktay. The broadcaster CNN Türk showed pictures of a deep crack in a runway at Hatay Airport.

Among the collapsed buildings in Turkey was a hospital in the city of İskenderun, in addition to residential houses. According to the state news agency Anadolu, the castle in the city of Gaziantep was also badly damaged. Because of the communication bottlenecks, people in Turkey were called upon to make phone calls online and not via the cell phone network, so that buried people can be reached first. The temperatures in the affected areas are currently often in the minus range. In some places it snowed heavily.

President Erdoğan wrote on Twitter, “we hope that together we will survive this catastrophe in the shortest possible time and with as little damage as possible”. The Foreign Office urged caution and advised to follow the instructions of the local authorities. Several countries promised Turkey help.

The country is repeatedly affected by severe earthquakes. Two of the largest continental plates meet there: the African and the Eurasian. In fact, most of the Turkish population lives in constant danger of earthquakes. In October 2020, more than 100 people died in İzmir in one of the most serious earthquakes in recent years. In 1999, Turkey was hit by one of the worst natural disasters in its history: a magnitude 7.4 earthquake in the region around the northwestern industrial city of İzmit claimed the lives of more than 17,000 people. Experts are also expecting a strong earthquake in Turkey’s largest city, Istanbul, in the near future.

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