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Earthquake Blog

Unfortunately, this one is not one of the cheerful blogs about Christmas stories and delicious recipes, but a very important one to raise awareness about the disastrous earthquake that recently struck Turkey and Syria which is considered to be the deadliest earthquake since 1939.[1]

On 6th of February 2023, two consecutive earthquakes in the magnitudes of 7.8 and 7.6 shook many big cities in Turkey and Syria, collapsing thousands of buildings and crushing the lives that were living in them. With the death toll already surpassing 35.000, tens of thousands of people are left wounded, with very few resources to nurse them back to health, threatening to increase the death toll significantly, in addition to the estimated 180.00 people still left under the ruins.

Why was this earthquake so disastrous?

The earthquake that took place in Kahramanmaraş, Turkey, affected a surface area of 110k square kilometers which is approximately 500 times the size of Amsterdam for comparison.[2] With consecutive earthquakes that took place shortly after each other, the earthquake had the power of 130 Hiroshima atomic bombs, which caused around 67.000 buildings to collapse over 10 big cities in Turkey and Syria.[3] The poor infrastructure in these cities caused immense damage, due to the cheap selection of materials in the buildings, and overpopulation in these cities with Syrian refugees sheltering in these close-to-border cities after the war that took place in their country. In the most critical days of saving the survivors, the resources and escape teams were very lacking. Additionally, in the week of the earthquake, a snowstorm took place, which made it very difficult to send help from other cities and caused thousands of people to freeze under the ruins.

https://www.sozcu.com.tr/2023/gundem/kahramanmaras-depreminde-olu-ve-sayisi-artiyor-7582900/

It has been over a week since the earthquake, so why do they still need my help?

Although miraculous stories of people surviving under the ruins and being saved at 228th and later hours are occasionally bringing hope to the survival efforts, there are many more issues attached to the earthquake that are being brought to light.

1. The tens of thousands of wounded people need immediate care, but with some hospitals also turning into ruins, there is not enough resources and medical staff to nurse them back to health.
2. The estimated 1.4 million people that were affected from the earthquake are seeking shelter and food in the freezing cold conditions. The most basic human needs cannot be met with the lack of resources such as food, shelter, water, toilets, menstrual products, diapers, and clothes.
3. Tens of thousands of dead bodies are left in the open since there are no resources to bury them with the priority being on saving people from under the ruins. Ten days into the survival race, the bodies are starting to rot and specialists are afraid this may cause another virus to be developed. This situation also concerns overproduction of rodents which is concerning the locals.
4. All universities across Turkey were shut down until summer to use the dorms for the earthquake survivors, therefore all university students are hoping for another solution to continue with their education.
5. Recently orphaned children are in danger of being kidnapped with very little care, they must be taken care of and be sent to nursing homes as soon as possible. Unfortunately the cases of organ mafia were reported in the affected cities.
6. The survivors are facing very serious cases of PTSD and are in need of psychological and psychiatric support.

https://www.sozcu.com.tr/2023/gundem/ayni-enkazda-uc-mucize-228inci-saatte-sag-cikarildilar-7592732

What will my donations be used as?

Due to the recent economic crisis that took place in Turkey, 1 Euro is equal to 20 Turkish Liras, making any donation very valuable and extremely needed. Any donation that you make will be used towards helping the survivors reach medicine, shelter, food, and many other basic human needs.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CofY9Jipjsk/                                                                                                

How can I help?

There is a very big collaboration going on internationally to help the survivors in these terrible times. You can also contribute by donating money to these accounts and raising awareness for the topic.

You can reach the Lugus fund of Giro555 through scanning the QR codes that in the posters across Zernike campus, adding a small donation when you are buying snacks from the Lugus lounge, or clicking the link below:

Lugus Giro555 Fund:

https://giro555aardbeving.digicollect.nl/lugus

For donating to Turkish organizations:

AHBAP:

https://bagis.ahbap.org/bagis

Sources

“Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan : Kara Gün Dostluğunu Unutmayacağız!” Atv, 14 Feb. 2023, https://www.atv.com.tr/haberler/2023/02/14/cumhurbaskani-erdogan-kara-gun-dostlugunu-unutmayacagiz.

Kos, Haberi Hazırlayan : Kubilay. “Depremde Kaç Bina Çöktü? Resmi Rakam Açıklandı...” Www.haberturk.com, 13 Feb. 2023, https://www.haberturk.com/depremde-kac-bina-coktu-resmi-rakam-aciklandi-2023-depremde-kac-bina-hasar-gordu-3564717/3.

The New York Times. “What We Know about the Earthquake in Turkey and Syria.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 10 Feb. 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/10/world/middleeast/earthquake-turkey-syria-toll-aid.html.

Sözcü. “Erdoğan Açıkladı: Can Kaybı Sayısı 16 Bin 170'e, Yaralı Sayısı 64 Bin 194'e Yükseldi Https://T.co/bxrh7xs5vv Pic.twitter.com/Vkuakhtdku.” Twitter, Twitter, 9 Feb. 2023, https://twitter.com/gazetesozcu/status/1623681671814938626.

Yayınlanma: 16:15 - 15 Şubat 2023 Güncellenme: 16:55 - 15 Şubat 2023. “Aynı Enkazda Üç Mucize! 228'Inci Saatte Sağ Çıkarıldılar.” Sözcü Gazetesi, https://www.sozcu.com.tr/2023/gundem/ayni-enkazda-uc-mucize-228inci-saatte-sag-cikarildilar-7592732.

Dide Çetinayak

[1] The New York Times. “What We Know about the Earthquake in Turkey and Syria.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 10 Feb. 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/10/world/middleeast/earthquake-turkey-syria-toll-aid.html.

[2] “Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan : Kara Gün Dostluğunu Unutmayacağız!” Atv, 14 Feb. 2023, https://www.atv.com.tr/haberler/2023/02/14/cumhurbaskani-erdogan-kara-gun-dostlugunu-unutmayacagiz.

[3] Kos, Haberi Hazırlayan : Kubilay. “Depremde Kaç Bina Çöktü? Resmi Rakam Açıklandı...” Www.haberturk.com, 13 Feb. 2023, https://www.haberturk.com/depremde-kac-bina-coktu-resmi-rakam-aciklandi-2023-depremde-kac-bina-hasar-gordu-3564717/3.