Facts: The earthquake in Turkey
The first and largest quake occurred at 4.17 local time (2.17 Swedish time), the night before Monday. Its magnitude has been measured at 7.7 or 7.8 – and it occurred at a depth of about 18 kilometers. The epicenter was in southeastern Turkey, near the border with Syria. It was about 20 kilometers north of Gaziantep, a city of two million, and just south of Kahramanmaras, a city of one million.
The big quake was followed by many aftershocks, several of which had a magnitude of around 6. Nine hours after the first quake, at lunchtime on Monday Swedish time, another even more powerful quake occurred. It had its epicenter a few miles north of Kahramanmaras and a magnitude measured at 7.5.
On Tuesday morning, two earthquakes with a magnitude of at least 5 were measured.
The strongest of the quakes is the strongest to hit Turkey since 1939. It was reported to have been felt in Greece as well as Egypt and was also recorded by measuring stations as far away as Sweden and Greenland.
On Saturday, a large shipment of emergency medical equipment arrived in Aleppo in northern Syria, reports say CNN. Also on the aid flight was WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, among others.
Waiting for the go-ahead
However, WHO’s responsible regional director Rick Brennan says on Sunday that no emergency supplies have so far been able to be sent across the border into northwestern Syria.
— We have a planned (broadcast) within the next few days. We are still negotiating for it to get the go-ahead, says Brennan.
According to Brennan, the WHO has been approved for the delivery by the Syrian government in Damascus but is awaiting approval “from entities on the other side”.
According to the WHO, only a little over half of the healthcare facilities in regime-controlled Syria were fully functional even before the earthquake. Although the WHO does not have access to the same kind of data for the rebel-controlled parts of the country, it is estimated that the healthcare system has similar capacity there.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is on site in Aleppo, Syria. Stock photography. Miracle rescues
The strong tremors occurred last night to Monday last week. Since then, rescue workers have waged a battle against the clock to get survivors out of the race.
There are reports of several successful rescues this weekend that are described as miracles. Among other things, several children are said to have been pulled out of the racial masses on Sunday, after being trapped for nearly a week.
So far, more than 33,000 have been confirmed dead after the earthquake – but the UN fears that there could be twice that number.
The UN has warned that at least 870,000 people are in urgent need of hot food in Turkey and Syria. In Syria alone, up to 5.3 million may have been left homeless by the earthquake.
According to the WHO, close to 26 million people are affected by the disaster.