Earthquake in Turkey: more than 3,400 dead and 13,500 injured after a tremor of magnitude 7.8

According to the United States Geological Institute (USGS), The 7.8 magnitude quake occurred at 4:17 a.m. local time at a depth of 17.9 km near the city of Gaziantep.. It is, according to the agency, the strongest earthquake the country has experienced in more than 100 years of records.

And the USGS also recalled that an earthquake of the same magnitude that struck eastern Turkey in 1939 killed more than 30,000 people. Now, following Monday’s tremor, she feels it is likely that the death toll could be as high as 10,000 people..

This is what it stated in a report, explaining that “many casualties and major damage are likely, and that the disaster is likely to be widespread”, especially since “the population of this region resides in structures that are extremely vulnerable to earthquakes”. The USGS estimates that in addition to the casualties, Turkey faces the following issues economic losses of between 1 and 10 billion dollars.which could represent up to 2% of the country’s GDP.

It is feared that the death toll will continue to rise, as the earthquake itself and the strong aftershocks that followed (more than 78, including one with a magnitude of 7.6 on the Richter scale) affected several cities. According to Turkish Interior Minister Suleymon Soylu, 10 cities in the country are suffering the consequences Gaziantep, Kahramanmaras, Hatay, Osmaniye, Adiyaman, Malatya, Sanliurfa, Adana, Diyarbakir and Kilis. More than 2,800 buildings were damaged and collapsed, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

The priority now is to saving all those trapped under the rubble. of buildings that collapsed due to the earthquake, so nearly a thousand search and rescue volunteers were deployed from Istanbul. “80 AFAD (disaster emergency agency) officers, 27 municipalities and accredited NGOs, 968 search and rescue volunteers, 4 K9 dogs, 2 trucks and relief materials have been dispatched to the affected area by the earthquake,” Ali Yerlikaya, governor of Istanbul, wrote on Twitter.

Also, Turkey’s disaster agency has appealed to the international community for help. as it conducts search and rescue operations, given the scale of the disaster. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the European Union (EU) and 45 countries have already offered to help, while the World Health Organization (WHO) has activated its network of medical teams emergency in Turkey and Syria to help those affected by the earthquake, which was also felt in Lebanon and Cyprus.

It should be remembered that Turkey is located in one of the most active seismic zones in the world.. Seven earthquakes with a magnitude of 7.0 or more have hit the country in the past 25 years, but Monday’s was the largest. It is also the strongest earthquake to occur globally since an 8.1 magnitude quake hit a remote area near the South Sandwich Islands in the southern Atlantic Ocean in 2021. without doing any damage.

SYRIA, DISASTED AREA

In northern Syria, the situation is also complicated. Deaths were reported mainly in the regions of Aleppo, Hama, Latakia and Tartous, Syrian state television said. Additionally, the country’s White Helmets, also known as the Syrian Civil Defense, released a statement. declaring northwestern Syria a “disaster zone”..

“We call on all local authorities and civil forces to mobilize their units, and we recommend that all humanitarian, health and relief organizations operating in Syria share the work according to the parity system and their geographical distribution so that needs are met as much as possible,” they demanded.

The Syrian Defense Ministry, for its part, said in a statement that it is “mobilizing all its units, formations and institutions in all areas to provide immediate assistance and employment assistance”. emergency assistance to residents affected by the earthquake, the search for people trapped under the rubble and the treatment of the injured.“.

Hospitals have already collapsed, with patients in the hallways, and others, like Al Dana Hospital, had to be evacuated after being badly damaged by the earthquake.