The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

It was felt as far as Greenland: the earthquake in Turkey - the strongest in almost a century - voila! news

2023-02-06T13:07:55.651Z


Erdogan compared the disaster to the earthquake that devastated Turkey in 1939 and killed more than 30,000 people, and the current death toll - more than a thousand - is expected to climb. "Everyone is giving their heart and soul," said the president, who received aid offers from dozens of countries, including Israel. In Syria, desperate for aid: "We need help from everyone"


Drone footage: rescuers in Turkish cities search for earthquake survivors (Reuters)

The earthquake that shook Turkey today (Monday) is the deadliest to hit the country since 1999, when about 17 thousand people died in the east of the country, and the strongest in almost a century.

The death toll in the country has already risen to more than a thousand, alongside thousands more injured and many trapped under the rubble.

In neighboring Syria, more than 800 people died and thousands were injured.



The noise that occurred tonight in Turkey was slightly stronger than the one in 1999 - 7.8 compared to 7.6 - and according to some experts, as powerful as the strongest noise ever measured in the country, in 1939.

It was felt in the countries of the Middle East, including Israel, and even in Greenland.

In the afternoon, the country was already hit by another strong earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.7.



Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan compared today's disaster to that of 1939, when about 30,000 people died in the southeast of the country.

He said he could not estimate the final number of victims, since the search and rescue efforts were ongoing.

The disaster struck while Turkey and the countries of the region are in the middle of winter.



"Everyone is giving their heart and soul in their efforts, although the winter, the cold weather and the earthquake that occurred during the night make everything more difficult," Erdogan said at a press conference.

According to him, Ankara has received offers of aid from dozens of countries.

One of them is Israel, which is preparing to send an aid mission to the country.

Earthquake in Adana, Turkey (Photo: Reuters)

Spanning several fault lines, Turkey is one of the most seismologically active regions in the world.

In 2011, more than 500 people were killed in an earthquake in the city of Van in the east of the country.



In the city of Diyarbakir, the aid teams rescued a seven-year-old girl alive from the ruins after about seven hours.

"The earthquake hit the area we were afraid of," the head of the Turkish Red Crescent, Kerem Kinik, told local media.

He called on citizens to donate blood.

Many residents went out in their night clothes into the frozen streets, large parts of which were turned into ruins.

More in Walla!

What do you do during an earthquake in Israel?

The complete guide

To the full article

Destroyed buildings following an earthquake in the city of Afrin, Syria, February 6, 2023 (Photo: GettyImages)

In the city of Pazarchik, in the Kahramanmaras district, tremendous damage was recorded.

"Our house looks stable from the outside but there are cracks inside," Nihat Altundag told The Guardian. "There are destroyed buildings around me, there are houses on fire, there are houses that are cracking.

"A building collapsed 200 meters from where I am now. We are waiting for the morning to see the extent of the earthquake. Everyone is outside, scared."



"I have never felt anything like this in my 40 years of life," said Erdem, a resident of the city of Gaziantep, which is close to the epicenter.

"We felt the earthquake very strongly at least three times, we shook like a baby in a cradle."

Erdem said that people had fled their trembling homes and were afraid to return.

"Everyone is sitting in their cars and trying to drive to open places, away from the buildings," he said in a telephone conversation with the Reuters news agency.

Widespread destruction in Syria, Israel received an appeal for aid

In Syria, official media reported more than 371 dead and 1,089 wounded in regime-controlled districts, while at least 211 dead and 419 wounded were counted in rebel-held areas.

Ruler Bashar Assad convened an emergency meeting in the morning and the victims include the Prime Minister's sister, Hussein Aranos, and some of her children and grandchildren who were killed in Hamat.

A political source said that Israel received an indirect aid request from Damascus through the UN agencies in the region.



"In the last day there was a very severe earthquake in Turkey, which embraced the request in other areas as well.

I instructed to send, at the request of the Turkish government, rescue, rescue and medical aid teams," said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "This is how we practice around the world, and this is how we practice in our neighborhood as well.

Since a request was also received to do this - for many victims of the noise in Syria, I instructed to do this as well."



Many buildings in Syria suffer a lot of damage from the civil war that has been going on in the country for almost 12 years, and they cannot withstand the force of significant earthquakes.

The head of health services in Aleppo, Ziad Haga Taha, said that "all public and private hospitals are on high alert. The wounded are still arriving in waves."



Ismail al-Abdallah, one of the members of the "White Helmets" rescue organization operating in the opposition territories, told the BBC network that "We need help, we need the international community to do something, to help us, to support us. Northwest Syria is a disaster zone. We need help of all to save our people."

On video: a girl is rescued from the ruins in the town of Azaz in Syria following the earthquake (Reuters)

In the documentation from the rebel-controlled border town of Azaz, a toddler was rescued alive from one of the buildings damaged by the noise.

Eyewitnesses said that in Damascus and the capital of Lebanon, Beirut and the city of Tripoli, residents fled from their houses to the streets and stayed away from them for fear that they would collapse.



"The situation is very tragic, dozens of buildings have collapsed in the city of Selkin," said a member of the "White Helmets" rescue organization.

Selkin lies about five kilometers from the border with Turkey. According to the rescuer, seen in the video on a street full of rubble, the houses were "completely destroyed."



Russia, whose forces are deployed in Syria, said that no damage was recorded at its bases in the country and it offered assistance to Turkey.



The United States said that President G And Biden directed government aid agencies to examine the best aid options for the disaster areas. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement that Washington is concerned by the reports of the massive destruction.

  • news

  • world news

  • the Middle East

Tags

  • Earthquakes

  • Turkey

  • Syria

  • Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Source: walla

All news articles on 2023-02-06

You may like

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-27T16:45:54.081Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.