TRAGEDIES, especially natural disasters, are so hard to deal with. They evoke painful memories and put society on edge. This is why the people of Turkey and Syria are still struggling to make sense ofwhat befell them on February 6. According to reports, a Mw 7.8 earthquake struck southern and central Turkey as well as northern and western Syria, 34 km west of the city of Gaziantep. A Mw 7.7 earthquake followed nine hours later, centered 95 km to the north–northeast in Kahramanmaraş Province. The damage was simply terrible. According to Wikipedia, “The earthquake is the deadliest in Turkey since the 1268 Cilicia earthquake and in Syria since the 1822 Aleppo earthquake.It is one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded in the Levant and is the deadliest earthquake worldwide since the 2010 Haiti earthquake.” The death toll is in the region of 42,000, and the Turkish central bank’s net international reserves alone fell by $2.65bn to $24.44bn.
According to the Red Cross, Syria runs the risk of disease outbreaks if hundreds of thousands of displaced people get no permanent housing soon. Jagan Chapagain, Secretary-General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, speaking of the appalling conditions in which even the survivors are still trapped, lamented: “They are still living in very basic conditions in very, very cold school rooms. If this continues for a long period of time, then there will be health consequences.” And the spokesman of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), James Elder, spoke about access to clean water, food, blankets and psychological support for the survivors. “It’s literally everything for children who 10 days ago escaped crumbling concrete in their pyjamas into the freezing cold…This is trauma on top of trauma for these children; every little boy or girl who is 12 or under, their whole life has been conflict.”
In the aftermath of the tragedy, many lives have been shattered. The devastating earthquake has brought with it massive destruction and has attracted the attention and sympathy of the entire world. The misery it has wrought has been such a huge one; the cost in human terms is staggering. With the cold and freezing weather, it has been difficult getting to many people still under the rubble of collapsed buildings after many days, dimming the prospect of a rescue for a yet growing number of casualties. Even as rescue workers fight tooth and nail to save lives, the fact that people are still under the rubble is distressing. In this regard, it is saddening that the current state of the Ghanaian footballer Christian Atsu, who had been under the rubble for 26 hours before he was rescued, is still unknown.
We salute the promptness of the first responders and other government agencies in helping to come to the rescue and care of those affected. The situation would have been more horrific if they had not. We expect governments and their agencies in the two countries to continue to do all they can to attend to those affected by the tragedy even as we call on the international community to assist the countries in every way possible. Regardless of what they have been through, we rejoice with the survivors. We also commiserate with the bereaved. This is a most trying time in their lives and they deserve all the support they can get in order to get back on their feet. The international community is rallying round Turkey and Syria and that is precisely what should be happening. There must be unwavering solidarity and support.
