At 4:17 a.m. local time on the night between February 5 and February 6, three earthquakes of magnitude 7.7 - 7.6 and 6.4 struck in the Turkish provinces of Kahramanmaraş and Gaziantep.
Almost all of the people who caught the earthquake late at night, while sleeping, were vulnerable. There is heavy snowfall and cold weather in the region.
Earthquake map of Turkey, red areas are faults that generate earthquakes.
According to initial estimates, 3174 buildings collapsed, 1651 people lost their lives and 11119 people were injured. It has been less than 24 hours but the tragic toll is mounting.
There is a race against time to rescue people trapped under the rubble and the most challenging part of this process is the extreme cold in the region. People left homeless and forced to go out in their nightgowns need to protect themselves from the cold. It is impossible to enter the houses that have not collapsed due to the continuing strong earthquakes.
Since the earthquake affected 10 provinces in total, relief efforts are being carried out with difficulty. Turkey is on Level 4 alert and open to any search and rescue assistance. Since the earthquake affected a large geographical area, there is a race against time to extract those under the rubble alive.
There are many aid collection organizations from unaffected cities to the earthquake zones. The priority is winter clothes, blankets and heaters for heating. Gas supply to some cities has been stopped until repairs are completed!
The south of the country is the region most adversely affected by the disaster. I live in the Aegean region in the west, which was not affected by the earthquake. For now, we have no choice but to watch the rescue efforts and help as much as we can.
As time goes on, the number of people killed and injured is increasing. It is extremely sad to see the numbers increasing, because every number that increases is a life lost. As the country is already a first class earthquake zone, we are used to earthquakes, but we are slow to take precautions.
We are facing the reality of earthquakes again. All national sports competitions in the country have been suspended until further notice. Education has been suspended until February 13 and mourning has been declared across the country.
It will take some time to find out how many buildings were destroyed and how many people were killed and injured. The area of impact is quite large and almost all life has come to a standstill in the affected cities.
There will certainly be repercussions on the economy in the medium and long term, but the priority will be the lives lost; no one cares about small calculations. I hope that people in the collapsed buildings managed to get out just before their homes collapsed and survived. I hope that the number of people lost will be less than estimated.
Unfortunately, life is like that; you have everything and suddenly you have nothing. Fear harbors the reality of death and can strike you in one of your weakest moments, in your sleep.
There are also reports of buildings collapsing and people dying in some Syrian cities bordering Turkey. But I do not have clear information about the situation there.
Get well soon, my Turkey!