Earthquake in Turkey and Syria; the number of dead reached more than 11,000 people
Pain, sadness, mourning and bereavement have cast a shadow on the earthquake-stricken regions of Syria and Turkey, and even the occasional shouts of Allahu Akbar, which means that someone has been brought out alive from under the rubble, are a fleeting consolation. Two days and two nights after two terrible earthquakes, the hope of saving those who are alive under the rubble is getting less and less, and for those who have survived, the future looks darker, while the number of dead has exceeded eleven thousand people.
Meanwhile, the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has visited the earthquake affected areas of Marash and Hatay. He accepted the problems of aid delivery in Kharamesh, while the sound of ambulance sirens was constantly heard, but he considered the reasons for it to be the destruction of roads and airports. Opposition parties accuse the government of incoherence and inappropriate use of the army.
Two days and two nights after two terrible earthquakes, while the aftershocks continue, the earthquake victims settle in the shelters they can find, schools, mosques, offices and even under the canopy of the bus station and warm themselves by burning garbage and whatever they can find. Municipal gas and electricity are cut off in many areas and oil and gasoline are not available, it is difficult to warm children especially at night.
The cold of Zamharir has closed the roads and made it difficult to remove the frozen debris. In some areas, the survivors are sitting on the debris under which their loved ones are waiting for help that has not arrived and there is little hope that the rescuers will arrive on time.
The Secretary General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adanum Gebresesios, expressed concern that the time to save lives from the rubble is running out. According to this organization, the earthquake has affected the lives of 23 million people, and it has called for relief to the earthquake-affected areas as soon as possible.
Those who have a healthy car with a full tank have tried to go to the undamaged areas to their relatives and friends, but some roads were destroyed in the earthquake and in the snow and cold, the line of cars that want to cross the road or road has reached kilometers.
People are angry about the slowness of relief, although a flood of all kinds of aid, essential goods, equipment and facilities and rescue teams, especially to Turkey, from different countries of the world including Iran, but it is a golden time to save those who are alive under the rubble and sometimes They are sending messages from under the rubble with mobile phones. It is coming to an end.
How did the earthquake in Turkey and Syria happen?
Earthquakes occur as a result of increased pressure on the earth’s tectonic plates and their sudden movement. In the case of Turkey, the Arabian plate moved northward and rubbed against the Anatolian plate. Below we see the fault lines around these two countries:
In Turkey, a three-month state of emergency has been declared in ten destroyed provinces. In Maresh in the south of Turkey, which was near the epicenter of the earthquake, they put the bodies in a gym to bury them later. But this is not possible for everyone, here a father is sitting on the rubble and does not let go of his 15-year-old daughter’s hand, a girl who died under the rubble and only her hand is left.
On the other side of the border, in northern Syria, the situation is even worse. Nearly a decade of civil war had destroyed urban infrastructure in many areas before the earthquake. Hospitals, electricity and other facilities are scarce.
In the areas under the control of Bashar al-Assad’s government, aid delivery has improved, Iran and Iraq have sent aid, but in the areas under the control of the rebels, due to various reasons, including the lack of roads, the delivery of aid is very difficult. There is only one road to reach these areas, which was also damaged in the earthquake. The United Nations said yesterday that these factors have caused the temporary suspension of aid to these areas.
But here the miraculous rescue of a baby warmed hearts for a moment. One of the residents of Jandirs in northwestern Syria told AFP that they heard a sound while removing the rubble:
“We removed the dirt and found the baby with the umbilical cord still attached, we cut the umbilical cord and took him to the hospital.” This baby is the only survivor of a family whose members were buried in a mass grave yesterday.
The Syrian Red Cross asked the United States to help by lifting the sanctions. But US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said his country will not cooperate with Bashar al-Assad’s government because US aid “must go to the Syrian people, not the regime.”
On the other hand, international relief organizations have asked the Syrian government to allow access to the areas under the control of the rebels.
