Huge earthquake hits Turkey and Syria

Kahramanmaras Earthquake: affected area map
Image: United States Geological Survey

Early this morning, Monday, 6 February a powerful earthquake hit the area stranding southern Turkey and northeastern Syria. The quake hit at 04:17 in the morning local time (01:17 Zulu time). There were two primary shocks, at 7.8 on the Richter scale, and numerous aftershocks some as powerful as 6.7.

This makes it an extremely powerful earthquake. In comparison, the 1988 Spitak Earthquake in Armenia that took the lives of up to 50,000 people was only a 6.8 one. At this point, today's earthquake, named Kahramanmaras Earthquake after the name of the Turkish town close to one of the epicenters at this point has a death toll of over 3,000. The death toll is bound to rise further but hopefully it will never reach the same mark as the Spitak one where catastrophic death toll in Armenia in 1988 was to a large degree a consequence of extremely poor quality of Soviet construction.

My heart goes out to those who suffered death or injury in this horrible event as well as their family and friends. I am sure so do many other people and many are working as hard as they can to provide help. It is not easy. Local rescue and medical facilities are most likely overburdened. Sadly, some victims may still be alive but help may not come in time. That is reality of all disasters of this size and scale.

According to what little I know of emergency response the first 72 hours are critical. Small groups with connections on the ground are often most effective at getting help where it is most needed. If you know of any please share the info so people can donate and otherwise help - this is one of most powerful tools for leveraging the power of the internet in a disaster.

The weather is not helping as at least some of the most affected areas are now also affected by a sub-freezing temperature and snowfall. That is the sort of weather that can easily finish off a lightly wounded casualty. If you are in the area, your basement, or a spare shed, or a bundle of firewood or an old tent can literally save a life. So can a timely an accurate identification of a location where victims may be buried under debris. That is another area in which modern communications can make a critical difference. Let us hope the rescue and relief operation is run properly and efficiently.