Turkeys Earthquake- post #4

As soon as I walked into my house my cousin tells me in a frantic manner that there had been an earthquake in Turkey an hour ago.  I was stunned for a second after he had told me but I continued on with my journey. Hearing about a natural disaster has become almost a daily thing to me recently as with others. But still I thought about how the situation is in Turkey, and how the people are coping with the disaster.

            The earthquake had a magnitude of 7.2,which is the strongest to hit Turkey in a decade, which struck eastern Turkey, with over 1000 people reportedly killed so far as with tons of crumpled buildings. Official rescuers are expecting the death toll to rise as they shuffle through the rubble, with hopes of finding any survivors, a hope that is dimishing as the days go on. The earthquakes epicenter was underneath Ercis,which got hit the hardest. It is an eastern city with a population of 75,000 which is known as a earthquake-prone zone. Another city that also took substantial damage was the city of Van that has a bustling population. The local authority in Van believes that over 1,000 people have died

in its city due to a substantial amount of buildings collapsing, which is one of the main issue in the aftermath of the quake, and more are expected to break down in the aftershocks. According to the officials, atleast 2000 buildings have so far been destroyed which has made the matter worse for Turkey. A lot of buildings are going to need repairs which is going to be costly for Turkey as they are going to need whole new infrastructures for the affected cities.

Other countries around Turkey, such as Armenia, and Iran have also felt the quake in its cities. But no or no substantial damage was done in these regions.

            Local Officials have advised that the residents of the affected cities should stay away from any sort of infrastructure to be safe from any threat of building collapse. Residents that were near the epicenter lit campfires prepared to spend the night outdoors away from any buildings. While some stayed in disaster relief centers, others went to stay with relatives in nearby villages. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan assured the residents that assistance will be given to them. “We won’t leave anyone to fend for themselves in the cold of winter,” he said. But according to Nazmir Gul, a politician in Van, “We can provide food, but they desperately need shelter.” Veysel Keser,mayor of Celibibag, also states that "People are in agony, we can hear their screams for help. We need urgent help.” But when help is being provided, many of the aid trucks are being looted, which some believe are to be sold in the black market.which makes the situation worse for the people still in need of help. Also many of the populus still don't have a shelter and many complained that they weren't getting the help they needed. In van, in the aftermath of the quake many inmates set fire to a jail and fought their guards because the authorities refused to let them out.

            As soon as the Earth Quake occurred, many nations around the world sent calls to the government of Turkey to offer assistance where it was needed. Nations such as United States, Israel, and Greece. Even though of the bad past conflicts between Turkey and Greece over the island of Cyprus, Greece still offered Turkey aid. But in Israel case, even though Israel had raided and killed 9 Turkish nationals, it offered help to Israel when it was struck with a wildfire disaster. So in return Israel wants to help Turkey out with this earthquake. Which in the beginning Turkey had denied, but is now accepting aid from Israel or any other country as the situation worsened for Turkey. Also disaster relief organizations such as the Red cross and its counter the Red crescent, which I never knew existed until now had also given their assistance to Turkey. President Obama said in a speech that “We stand shoulder to shoulder with our Turkish ally in this difficult time”

            Turkey lays in one of the worlds most dangerous and most active seismic zones and is crossed by many fault lines, and is in the middle of 3 major plates which further increases its risk of being pancaked by an earthquake. Turkey's government plans to reduce the damage in the future by building earthquake-resistant buildings, and being more prepared for a natural disaster.