Earthquake in Turkey & Syria: Prediction, Happening, Rescue & humanitarian aid

Earthquake in Turkey & Syria has shocked the entire world. On February 6, a powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey and northern Syria, causing buildings to fall and prompting frantic searches for survivors in the demolished cities and towns across the area. It has been claimed that the quake had been predicted by a researcher about 3 days ago.

Quake prediction by Hoogerbeets

A researcher from the Netherlands named Frank Hoogerbeets had  predicted the Turkey-Syria earthquake three to four days before it actually happened. On February 3, 2023 the Dutch expert Frank Hoogerbeets took to twitter and wrote, “Sooner or later there will be a ~M 7.5 earthquake in this region (South-Central Turkey, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon).”

Sooner or later there will be a ~M 7.5 #earthquake in this region (South-Central Turkey, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon). #deprem pic.twitter.com/6CcSnjJmCV

— Frank Hoogerbeets (@hogrbe) February 3, 2023

7.8-magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey & northern Syria

Later, about 3 days after this prediction, on February 6, a powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey and northern Syria, causing buildings to fall and prompting frantic searches for survivors in the demolished cities and towns across the area.

Rescue operation

Following the earthquake that jolted the southern Turkey and northern Syria rescue operation started. And during this rescue a number of heart stirring incidents surfaced when the rescue teams were trying to pull out people from the rubbles.

A young Syrian boy smiled and started to play with rescue workers who pulled him from the rubble of a building that was destroyed following deadly earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.

A young Syrian boy smiled and started to play with rescue workers who pulled him from the rubble of a building that was destroyed following deadly earthquakes in Turkey and Syria pic.twitter.com/kM3Qt4UqvG

— Reuters (@Reuters) February 8, 2023

In another very emotional incident a little girl was rescued along with her younger sister. She reportedly said to the rescue team that she would be ready to become a slave for rescuing her and her sister. “The little girl says to the rescuer when he reaches her: Get me out from under this wreckage,sir,me and my sister, and I will become your slave,” Zuher Almosa said in a tweet.

This video broke my heart 💔

The little girl says to the rescuer when he reaches her: Get me out from under this wreckage,sir,me and my sister, and I will become your slave.#earthquakeinturkey #Syria #هزه_ارضيه #زلزال #İstanbul #earthquake #Turkey #PrayForTurkey pic.twitter.com/U9mMrZdROM

— Zuher Almosa (@AlmosaZuher) February 7, 2023

“They are now, since 7 am GMT, safe and receiving medical aid in northern Syria… We were filming the video and talking to them to keep them busy about their situation until the rescue teams come to the site with the necessary equipment,”  Zuher Almosa also wrote in another tweet.

‘Operation Dost’ by India

Following the Earthquake India provided materials, supplies, medical supplies and equipment to Syria as well as sending search and rescue teams to Turkey under operation Dost.

India dispatched the first batch of humanitarian aid along with a rescue team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) to Turkey.

Latest report

Amid freezing temperatures, thousands are without food, water and shelter in Turkey and Syria as the death toll in the devastating 7.8-magnitude quake increased to 16,035 on Thursday, authorities said, reported IANS.

In its latest update on Thursday, Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD) said the death toll currently stood at 12,873, while the number of injured persons shot up to 62,937, reports Anadolu News Agency.

The victims and the widespread damages have been reported from the 10 regions of Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kahramanmaras, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, and Sanliurfa.

More than 113,200 search and rescue personnel are currently working in the field, AFAD said in its update, adding that a total of 28,044 people have been evacuated from quake-hit regions so far — 4,607 by road and railway and 23,437 by air.

Besides rescue teams, blankets, tents, food, and psychological support teams were also sent to affected areas. As many as 5,557 vehicles, including excavators, tractors and dozers, were reportedly sent to the disaster area.

In Syria, the total number of fatalities stood at 3,162, CNN reported.

Of the overall deaths, 1,900 were reported in rebel-held areas in the country’s northwest, while 1,262 fatalities were registered in government-controlled parts of the war-torn nation, according to Syrian state media and other officials.

Meanwhile, over 5,000 people were reported injured and the toll is likely to increase as search operations continue.

Syria’s White Helmets, a civil defence group in Syria, have said that “time is running out”, with “hundreds of families” still stuck under the rubble of collapsed buildings, the BBC reported.

Addressing the media earlier in the day in Geneva, Robert Holden, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) incident response manager, said there were thousands of people now surviving “out in the open, in worsening and horrific conditions”, with disrupted access to water, fuel, electricity and communications.

It is to be noted that the devastating 7.8 tremor struck Turkey’s southern province of Kahramanmaras at 4.17 a.m. on Monday morning, which was followed by a 6.4-magnitude temblor a few minutes later in Gaziantep province.

The epicentre of the 7.8-magnitude quake was 23 km east of Nurdagi in Gaziantep, at a depth of 24.1 km.

At around 1.30 p.m, a third 7.5-magnitude tremor hit Kahramanmaras, which officials said was “not an aftershock”.