Northwest Turkey hit by a magnitude 5.4 earthquake

[Anthea]

Panic in Turkey and Syria

A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck southern Turkey near the Syrian border late on Monday, setting off panic and further damaging buildings two weeks after the country's worst earthquake in modern history left tens of thousands dead

Two Reuters reporters said the tremors were strong and lasting, damaging buildings and leaving dust in the night air in central Antakya city, where it was centred. It was also felt in Egypt and Lebanon, Reuters reporters said.

The European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said the tremor struck at a shallow depth of 2 km (1.2 miles).

Police patrolled Antakya while ambulances rushed to the quake-hit area near the city center. Two people fainted, while others filled the streets around the central park making emergency calls on cell phones.

Reuters saw Turkish rescue teams running around on foot after the latest quake to check on residents, most of whom were living in temporary tents after the tremors two weeks ago.
Latest Updates

Muna Al Omar, a resident, said she was in a tent in a park in central Antakya when the earthquake hit.

"I thought the earth was going to split open under my feet," she said, crying as she held her 7-year-old son in her arms.

People react after a quake in Antakya in Hatay province, Turkey

Is there going to be another aftershock?

The two larger earthquakes that hit on Feb. 6, which also rocked neighbouring Syria, left more than a million homeless and killed far more than the latest official tally of 46,000 people in both countries.

Smaller tremors have jolted the region in the last two weeks but the Monday quake was the largest since Feb. 6.

"It was very strong. It jolted us out of our places," said Burhan Abdelrahman, who was walking out of his tent in a camp in Antakya city centre when the earthquake struck.

"I called relatives in Syria, Adana, Mersin, Izmir, everywhere, to check on them."

Turkey's disaster agency AFAD urged residents to stay away from the Mediterranean coast over a possible 50-centimetre rise in waters due to the quake.

Videos posted on social media, unverified by Reuters, showed passengers at Antakya airport taking cover in panic as the quake jolted the glass building.

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-ea ... 023-02-20/

[Anthea]

Very frightening situation for people in the immediate area, more buildings collapsing and roads becoming impassable

6.3 magnitude earthquake 3 km from Uzunbağ, Hatay
UTC time: Monday, February 20, 2023 17:04 PM
GMT: Monday, 20 February 2023 at 17:04 GMT

4.2 magnitude earthquake 9 km from Uzunbağ, Hatay
UTC time: Monday, February 20, 2023 19:00 PM
GMT: Monday, 20 February 2023 at 19:00 GMT

4.1 magnitude earthquake 4 km from Kuzeytepe, Hatay
UTC time: Monday, February 20, 2023 19:09 PM
GMT: Monday, 20 February 2023 at 19:09 GMT

Many people do not wish to move away as they hope for news of loved ones

[Anthea]

Since the recent 6.3 magnitude earthquake and it's 2 aftershocks in Hatay, we now have an aftershock in Kahramanmaraş where there have been a great many aftershocks following the massive quake 2 weeks ago.

Perhaps there will be another large earthquake in this region.but even with all the modern technology available, nobody know what will happen next

4.3 magnitude earthquake 7 km from Nurhak, Kahramanmaraş
UTC time: Monday, February 20, 2023 23:21 PM
GMT: Monday, 20 February 2023 at 23:21 GMT

[Anthea]

I wait with baited breath for what will happen to the Kurdish Mountain

4.1 magnitude earthquake 24 km from Sincik, Adıyaman
UTC time: Tuesday, February 21, 2023 09:56 AM
GMT: Tuesday, 21 February 2023 at 09:56 GMT

4.2 magnitude earthquake 10 km from Pazarcık, Kahramanmaraş
UTC time: Tuesday, February 21, 2023 10:09 AM
GMT: Tuesday, 21 February 2023 at 10:09 GMT

4.2 magnitude earthquake 1 km from Toygarlı, Hatay
UTC time: Tuesday, February 21, 2023 16:06 PM
GMT: Tuesday, 21 February 2023 at 16:06 GMT

[Anthea]

Click Photo to Enlarge:

Uncle adopts Aya

Afraa (Aya) might not be living with her immediate family today, but her uncle's family seems to be taking good care of her

Born an orphan under the rubble in northern Syria after the devastating earthquake that struck the country on February 6, Afraa al-Suwadi has been given a new chance at life when relatives decided to take her in.

The footage of the girl's rescue quickly went viral on social media, showing a man rushing from the rubble of a four-story building, taking the dust-covered baby into his arms. Suwadi's story made international headlines as Syria's "miracle baby".

While Afraa was the sole survivor in her immediate family, relatives had pulled her from under the rubble with her umbilical cord still attached to her dead mother in the Syrian town of Jenderis.

"She is my soul, my life, and my whole world," her uncle Khalil al-Suwadi told AFP from his tent in the town, cradling the newborn.

The baby, who was first named Aya, meaning "a sign from God" in Arabic, was later given her mother's name, Afraa, and her uncle took her in about a week and a half after she had been admitted to the hospital.

A DNA test was carried out by medical staff to ensure they were indeed relatives.

"The day they told us we could have her I was overjoyed, it was indescribable," said the uncle, who had helped rescue her.

"This child is a living memory of her father, mother, and siblings" who perished, he said, adding that he would tell her the family's story one day when she is older.

Despite his wife giving birth a few days ago, he has devoted much of his time to caring for Afraa, who he says is "now like one of my daughters."

When he laid her on one of the mattresses in their temporary tent, his daughters gathered around the baby, embracing and kissing her.

It is worth noting that Afraa is only one of the scores of children who have lost their parents in the 7.8-magnitude earthquake. UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, stated that it has been monitoring unfortunate children like Afraa, whose parents are missing or deceased, and is working with hospitals to find extended family members who may be able to care for them.

The situation is of particular concern in Syria, a country that already bears the agony of hundreds of thousands of unknown numbers of orphans due to the destructive war on the country.

Moreover, Damascus has been hit by more than a decade of US draconian sanctions and there have been calls for them to be lifted to facilitate the arrival of aid. The US has lately complied with international calls to lift Syria-related sanctions amid the aftermath of the earthquake, albeit temporarily.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/mis ... ulled-from

[Anthea]

Diyarbakır!

4.1 magnitude earthquake 7 km from Doğanşehir, Malatya
UTC time: Wednesday, February 22, 2023 07:56 AM
GMT: Wednesday, 22 February 2023 at 07:56 GMT

4.4 magnitude earthquake 9 km from Hani, Diyarbakır
UTC time: Wednesday, February 22, 2023 07:09 AM
GMT: Wednesday, 22 February 2023 at 07:09 GMT

[Anthea]

Syrian survivors die in fire

A Syrian family of seven, including five children, has been killed in a fire that struck a Turkish home they moved to after surviving last week’s earthquake, local media reported

Turkey’s state-owned Anadolu Agency reported citing a written statement from Konya Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office that the single-storey house, in which 14 people lived, caught fire on Friday. Seven people injured in the incident were receiving treatment, it said.

Anadolu reported the family had moved to the central region of Konya just a few days ago from the southeastern Turkish city of Nurdagi in Gaziantep province, which was severely hit by the February 6 quakes.

“The necessary investigations were carried out at the scene and a committee of experts was appointed,” the statement said.

“We saw the fire but we could not intervene. A girl was rescued from the window,” resident Muhsin Cakir told Anadolu.

The five children who died were aged between four and 13, Anadolu said. Turkey is home to nearly four million Syrians.

Many of them live in southeastern regions devastated by last week’s disaster. The death toll from the quakes has surpassed 43,000 across southeastern Turkey and Syria.

Gaziantep, one of southern Turkey’s big cities, has a population of almost two million, and nearly one-third of them are Syrian refugees who fled the war in the Arab country that started in 2011.

On Thursday, the United Nations appealed for more than $1bn in funds for the earthquake relief operation in Turkey, just two days after an appeal for $400m for quake-hit Syria.

While rescue efforts have continued in Turkey, the number of people rescued daily has reduced significantly.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/2/1 ... eepReading

[Anthea]

200,000 houses to be built

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday promised to construct nearly 200,000 permanent houses in 11 quake-stricken provinces in the country within a year, adding that his government has mobilised all resources to meet the urgent needs of the victims

A destructive 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the Kurdish city of Kahramanmaras in Turkey on February 6, with its impact also ripping through neighbouring Syria. Another quake followed in both countries hours later. Two other tremors, 6.4-magnitude and 5.8-magnitude, hit the Turkish province of Hatay late Monday.

The first two quakes have killed at least 42,300 people in Turkey, according to the disaster agency and the Turkish interior minister said late Monday that the latest twin quakes killed three people.

Erdogan has recently visited the earthquake-hit areas. He said in Osmaniye province on Tuesday that "Over 1.1 million buildings have been inspected in the region. It was determined that 458,000 independent sections of 139,000 buildings have been demolished, about to be demolished or severely damaged,” reported the state-owned Anadolu Agency.

He added that nearly 200,000 permanent houses will be constructed and the victims will be placed in them within a year.

Adana, Adiyaman (Semsur), Diyarbakir (Amed), Gaziantep(Dilok), Hatay, Kahramanmaras, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, Sanliurfa (Riha), and Elazig provinces were affected by the tremors. Over 6,000 aftershock have occurred in the last two weeks.

The new buildings will not exceed four stories, according to Erdogan who said that he has mobilized all government resources to meet the urgent needs of the victims.

Erdogan’s cabinet has come under fire for its late response to the deadly incident. The president has also acknowledged shortcomings.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeas ... /210220233

[Anthea]

Just when I was starting to think Kurdistan was safe:

4.9 magnitude earthquake 6 km from Kışlak, Hatay
UTC time: Thursday, February 23, 2023 15:53 PM
GMT: Thursday, 23 February 2023 at 15:53 GMT

[Anthea]

EU eases Syria sanctions

16 days after quake

The measure will reportedly last for six months and was allegedly taken "in view of the gravity of the humanitarian crisis in Syria exacerbated by the earthquake."

The European Union announced Thursday that it is temporarily lifting sanctions against Syria in order to expedite humanitarian deliveries to the country two weeks after a deadly earthquake.

Humanitarian organizations will no longer need to obtain approval from EU member state governments before transferring goods and services to sanctioned entities in Syria, as per a statement issued by the European Council, which represents the bloc's members.

The measure will reportedly last for six months and was taken "in view of the gravity of the humanitarian crisis in Syria exacerbated by the earthquake."

A massive 7.8-magnitude earthquake on February 6 killed over 43,000 people in Turkey and over 5,000 people in Syria.

The move means "the EU has waived the need for humanitarian organizations to seek prior permission from EU member states' national competent authorities to make transfers or provide goods and services intended for humanitarian purposes to listed persons and entities," the statement read.

As the catastrophe unfolds in front of the whole world's eyes in #Syria, one can't help but notice how the #West deliberately chose not to help the catastrophe-stricken country. pic.twitter.com/f5cOYM0JAB
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) February 7, 2023

It is worth noting that on February 10, the US Treasury Department announced a temporary lifting of some Syria-related sanctions following calls from the Syrian state and the international community in the aftermath of the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Syria and Turkey.

In a statement, the Department indicated that the move "authorizes for 180 days all transactions related to earthquake relief that would be otherwise prohibited by the Syrian Sanctions Regulations," which Syria dubbed "misleading".

This came as the West generally mobilized rapidly to send aid and rescue workers to Turkey but excluded Syria and neglected it, while people suffocated and took their last breath under the rubble

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/pol ... nto-the-qu

[Anthea]

Sadly, the fault-line is still active

4.2 magnitude earthquake 57 km from Latakia, Latakia
UTC time: Friday, February 24, 2023 20:10 PM
GMT: Friday, 24 February 2023 at 20:10 GMT

4.5 magnitude earthquake 7 km from Sincik, Adıyaman
UTC time: Friday, February 24, 2023 20:25 PM
GMT: Friday, 24 February 2023 at 20:25 GMT

4.2 magnitude earthquake 5 km from Solhan, Bingöl
UTC time: Saturday, February 25, 2023 00:28 AM
GMT: Saturday, 25 February 2023 at 00:28 GMT

4.2 magnitude earthquake 9 km from Uzunbağ, Hatay
UTC time: Saturday, February 25, 2023 01:12 AM
GMT: Saturday, 25 February 2023 at 01:12 GMT

The Kurdish mountain is NOT happy

[Anthea]

Death toll in Turkey passes 44,000

A destructive 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the Kurdish city of Kahramanmaras in Turkey on February 6, with its impact also ripping through neighboring Syria. Several other quakes and frequent aftershocks have continued to shake the region

AFAD said that more than half a million people have been evacuated from quake-hit provinces.

Adana, Adiyaman (Semsur), Diyarbakir (Amed), Gaziantep(Dilok), Hatay, Kahramanmaras, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, Sanliurfa (Riha), and Elazig provinces in the southeast were affected by the tremors.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday promised to construct nearly 200,000 permanent houses in the 11 quake-stricken provinces within a year, adding that his government has mobilised all resources to meet the urgent needs of victims.

The new buildings will not exceed four stories, according to Erdogan whose cabinet has come under fire for its slow response to the disaster. The president has acknowledged shortcomings.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeas ... y/24022023

[Anthea]

Click Image to Enlarge:

Thanks Kurdistan for aid

Two Turkish opposition leaders earlier this week thanked the Kurdistan Region for its support when responding to the recent quakes, with one of them even adding the Kurdistan flag to the list of nations who have supported Ankara. However, Turkish officials have refrained from publicly acknowledging the Region’s aid

A disastrous 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit the Kurdish city of Kahramanmaras in Turkey on February 6, with its impact also ripping through neighbouring Syria. Several other strong quakes and thousands of aftershocks followed. Around 50,000 people have died in both countries, according to latest figures.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) as well as the Region’s humanitarian organizations and people were among the first to provide aid to the neighbouring country. Several fundraising campaigns have also been launched in the Region.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Friday thanked the countries which provided quake-related aid to Ankara in their languages but he did not thank the Kurdistan Region. Former Turkish prime minister and head of the opposition Future Party Ahmet Davutoglu slammed the minister on Monday for ignoring the role of Kurds.

“Why did you disregard our Kurdish brothers while thanking the teams who came for help in their own language? Let us also thank our Kurdish brothers, whom the Minister of Foreign Affairs disregarded: Spas [thanks in Kurdish],” he said.

In two separate tweets on Monday and Wednesday, Ali Babacan, leader of opposition party DEVA, thanked the Kurds in Kurdish for their support, adding the flag of Kurdistan to the list of nations who have supported Turkey.

Many Kurds on Twitter thanked both opposition leaders for acknowledging the role of Kurds in responding to the quakes.

Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani paid a visit to some quake-hit areas in Turkey on February 14. He was received by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara the same day.

Ankara and Erbil enjoy great economic relations, and most of the Kurdistan Region's crude oil is marketed through Turkey's pipelines.

Mehmet Mevlut Yakut, the Turkish Consul General to Erbil, told Rudaw on Sunday that the friendship between Turkey and the Kurdistan Region developed further following Erbil’s campaign of humanitarian relief to the quake-hit country.

Yakut commended a message by Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani during his visit to quake-hit Turkey.

“He gave the message of ‘we share your pain, your pain is our shared pain.’ I find this very meaningful and we are expressing our gratitude for this,” said the Turkish diplomat.

The Kurdish language is banned in official settings in Turkey and many people have been jailed for raising the Kurdistan flag which has been present during many meetings between Turkish and KRG officials.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeas ... y/23022023

[Anthea]

Aid convoys for quake affectees

Al-Hasakah deputy governor tells Al Mayadeen that various social components collected large amounts of aid and sent them to Aleppo and Latakia

A relief aid convoy consisting of 9 trucks, provided by civil, tribal, religious, and charitable organizations, left the city of Al-Hasakah to the affected areas in Lattakia Governorate.

The convoy included mattresses, blankets, tents, foodstuffs, clothes, infant formula, medical supplies, medicines, and general hygiene supplies. It is the second convoy sent to the people of the province, after the first one, which was sent last week to Aleppo.

Al-Hasakah deputy governor, Hassan Al-Shamhoud, confirmed in a statement to Al Mayadeen that, "Despite the difficult conditions that the province of Al-Hasakah is going through and the presence of the US and Turkish occupations, the various social components in the province have collected large numbers of aid and sent them in two convoys, the first to Aleppo, and the second to Latakia.

He pointed out that the people of the province donated an amount exceeding one and a half billion Syrian pounds, which was deposited in the account of the Higher Committee for Relief.

For his part, the official of the “From Al-Hasakah, our hearts are with you” campaign, Radhi Shatawy, confirmed that “an initiative was launched through social media pages, to provide aid to our affected people in the governorates.

242 million Syrian pounds were collected and distributed directly to the affected people in hospitals and health centers in both Aleppo and Latakia.” Shatawy added that three trucks carrying clothes, shoes, blankets, and medicines, were sent to be provided directly to the affected people in the provinces of Aleppo and Latakia.

In parallel, Al-Hasakah athletes carried out a sit-in in the square of late President Hafez Al-Assad, in the center of Al-Hasakah city, calling for the lifting of the siege and sanctions imposed on the Syrian people.

Sit-inners called for the immediate lifting of the siege and the sanctions imposed on the Syrian people and called for the end of the US and Turkish occupations in the north and east of the country.

They also called on the international community and the United Nations to put pressure to take binding decisions that lift the sanctions and the blockade. This has been exacerbating the suffering of the Syrians after the disaster of the earthquake that hit the country, which requires great efforts to start reconstruction.

The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) controls about 80% of Al-Hasakah, and the Turkish-backed armed factions control the city of Ras al-Ain and its countryside. At the same time, the presence of the Syrian government is limited to tiny neighborhoods in the two cities of Al-Hasakah, Qamishli, and a number of villages in their countryside.

On February 6, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey and northern Syria and was followed by several strong aftershocks, which were felt by residents in Lebanon, Iraq, and Egypt.

The earthquake caused more than 50,000 deaths in the two countries. Thousands of buildings were severely damaged, including schools, health care facilities, and other public infrastructure, such as roads, airports, ports, oil stations, power lines, water supply, and sanitation.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/pol ... nctions-on

[Anthea]

Click Photo to Enlarge:

Schools reopen in Syria

IDLIB, Syria (AP) — Schools resumed classes in Syria’s rebel-held northwest Saturday after closing for nearly three weeks following an earthquake that devastated the region, local officials said, even as many schoolchildren suffer from shock

Many schools were turned into temporary shelters following the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Turkey and neighboring parts of Syria on Feb. 6 and killed tens of thousands of people.

The quake left homeless hundreds of thousands of people in the area, many of whom had already been displaced by Syria's 12-year-long war. Because of that conflict, the rebel-held area has also struggled to receive urgently needed humanitarian aid.

Many students were absent from their classes Saturday as their homes were damaged by the quake and their families now reside far away from the schools, said Abdulkafi Al-Hamdou a citizen journalist in the rebel-held region.

“Some students were worried about being inside the building and were on edge whenever they heard a sound such as a desk being moved,” Al-Hamdou said by telephone while visiting a school. “Many students are suffering from severe fear and anxiety. They are still in shock.”

An official with the education department in the region, Ziad al-Omar, said 39 teachers and 421 students were killed by the earthquake. He added that some 250 schools suffered damage including 203 that were partially destroyed and 46 that had cracks in the walls though the structures were still standing.

Over the past days, displaced people were asked to leave schools and many of them moved into shelters to live in tents. But prices of tents have been shooting up amid shortages and sell for about $200 or four times above the pre-earthquake price. A solid tent with metal stands can cost up to $400, in a region where more than 90% of the population live in poverty and rely on aid for food and medicine.

Education officials in rebel-held Idlib said the last two hours on Saturday and Sunday will be used to train students on how to evacuate buildings during earthquakes.

One of those who lost a home in the quake is Ayesha, a resident of the town of Atareb in rural Aleppo who had to evacuate her home to live in a tent. She told The Associated Press that the temporary shelter offered to her extended family of 13 people had to be evacuated because organizers said schools are about to resume and the courtyard where tents had been set up had to be vacated.

“They gave us a tent in a school. Then they said the students have to return and they started evacuating us,” she said, giving only her first name like most women in the conservative area.

Having a big family, Ayesha rented a small house on the edge of Atareb but four days after they moved there, a new 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck on Monday. “The house, thankfully didn’t collapse, but the walls have cracks," she said. "The ceiling remained in place.”

Since then, the family has set up a tent in the street out of fear of more aftershocks.

According to the opposition’s Syrian Civil Defense, also known as White Helmets, the earthquake killed 2,274 people and injured more about 12,400 in the rebel-held region. The quake also destroyed 550 buildings and heavily damaged at least 1,570 others, according to the White Helmets.

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/30 ... evastation