Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names and political terminology. Comments are in parentheses.

 

35,418 People Killed, Toll Still Rising from the Deadliest Earthquake in Turkiye Modern History

February 15, 2023

 

A woman was rescued after 228 hours after the February 6 earthquake in Hatay, Turkiye, February 15, 2023	Turkiye earthquake cracks a road, February 2023

An aerial view of a building that collapsed during the earthquake in Hatay, Turkey, on February 7, 2023	Search-and-rescue personnel hold a young child pulled from the rubble of a collapsed concrete building after 44 hours, along with her 33-year-old mother (not pictured), in Hatay, Turkey, on February 8, 2023

 

228th hour miracle': Woman, 2 children rescued from debris in Hatay

BY DAILY SABAH WITH AA

 ISTANBUL 

Sabah Daily, FEB 15, 2023 -

Awoman and two children were rescued from the rubble of "Uğur Apartment" on Oymak Street in the central Antakya district of Hatay at the 228th hour of the earthquake, Anadolu Agency (AA) reported.

A mother and her two children, who were rescued from the wreckage of their aparment, are said to be recieving hospital treatment after being pulled out from the rubble.

Mehmet Eryılmaz, a mining worker of the Turkish Hard Coal Institution (TTK), which was one of the teams that rescued the foreign national mother Ela and her children Meysam and Ali Bağdet, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that their work continues in the earthquake zone.

"A sound was heard during (search and rescue) works. We focused our work on that sound. The mother was happy to see us. I held her hand, at first. We talked, chatted, I tried to calm her down. After that, we continued our work. We have been working to save lives since we came (here). We are very happy. This is the fifth life we saved," Eryılmaz noted.

Referring to the dialogue with the mother, he said she asked for water first.

'''What day is it?' she asked. I answered her. She said her name was Ela. She also said the names of her children, but I forgot (their names). One was a girl and one was a boy," he concluded.

'228th hour miracle': Woman, 2 children rescued from debris in Hatay | Daily Sabah

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Rising toll makes quake deadliest in Türkiye's modern history

Hurriyet, February 15, 2023

ANTAKYA --

At least 35,418 people have died in Türkiye as a result of last week’s earthquake, making it the deadliest such disaster since the country’s founding 100 years ago.

While the death toll is almost certain to rise even further, many of the tens of thousands of survivors left homeless were still struggling to meet basic needs, like finding shelter from the bitter cold.

Confirmed deaths in Türkiye passed those recorded from the massive Erzincan earthquake in 1939 that killed around 33,000 people.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said 105,505 were injured as a result of the Feb. 6 quake centered around Kahramanmaraş and its aftershocks. Almost 3,700 deaths have been confirmed in neighboring Syria, taking the combined toll in both countries to over 39,000.

The president, who has referred to the quake as “the disaster of the century,” said more than 13,000 people were still being treated in hospital.

Speaking in Ankara following a five-hour Cabinet meeting held at the headquarters of disaster agency AFAD, Erdoğan said 47,000 buildings, which contained 211,000 residences, had been destroyed or were so badly damaged as to require demolition.

Aid agencies and governments were stepping up efforts to bring help to devastated parts of Türkiye and Syria.

The death toll in both countries is nearly certain to rise as search teams turn up more bodies — and the window for finding survivors was closing.

Nevertheless, rescuers pulled a 77-year-old woman alive from the rubble of a collapsed building in Adıyaman on Feb. 14, prompting cheers from onlookers 212 hours after she was buried by the huge earthquake.

Teams also reached 18-year-old Muhammed Cafer Çetin in Adıyaman, and medics gave him an IV with fluids before attempting a dangerous extraction from a building that crumbled further as rescuers were working. Medics fitted him with a neck brace, and he was carted away on a stretcher with an oxygen mask.

In Hatay’s Antakya district, more than 200 hours after the quake struck, teacher Emine Akgül was pulled from an apartment building by a mining search and rescue team, local media reported, while a foreign national couple, Faez Ghanam and Fatma Ghanam, was also rescued from the rubble of one of the dozens of buildings that collapsed in the district around 209 hours after the tremor.

Meanwhile, rescue teams in Kahramanmaraş’s Dulkadiroğlu district first rescued 17-year-old Muhammed Enes Yeninar and then his brother 21-year-old brother, Baki Yeninar, 198 hours after the major disaster. The injured brothers were taken to the hospital.

Chatting with the rescue teams for a while amid the operation, Baki Yeninar said he held on to life by consuming protein powder under the debris.

Rising toll makes quake deadliest in Türkiye's modern history - Türkiye News (hurriyetdailynews.com)

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Türkiye to start construction of 30,000 houses in quake zone in March: Erdoğan

Hurriyet, February 15, 2023

ANKARA

Türkiye will start building 30,000 residential buildings in the earthquake zone in March and gradually begin the construction of new houses away from the fault lines in a few months, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Feb. 14.

“Our Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Ministry and [the Public Housing Administration] TOKİ have started preparations for new houses and cities to be built in the region. Knowing that we do not have a single minute to waste, we will immediately proceed to construction work wherever damage assessment is completed,” Erdoğan said at a press conference after a cabinet meeting held at the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) headquarters in Ankara.

“According to the current situation, we can start the construction of 30,000 houses as of the beginning of March,” he said, stressing that they will gradually start construction of new houses away from the fault lines in a few months.

The government aims to complete the construction of high-quality and safe buildings in one year to solve the housing needs in the entire earthquake zone, Erdoğan stated.

“In the meantime, we are planning to meet the temporary housing needs of earthquake victims by using our country’s all means and resources, including tents, containers, prefabricated structures, dormitories, hotel rooms and public guesthouses assigned for this purpose, and rented houses in other provinces. I want our citizens in the earthquake zone to be patient for a year,” he stated.

The government will fully compensate for the destruction caused by the earthquake, with the houses either reconstructed in their current locations or build in other suitable areas, depending on the analyses to be made, he noted.

They will provide both material and emotional support for each and every one of the citizens and will ensure that aid and housing efforts continue in an orderly manner, Erdoğan stated.

“I want my citizens in the earthquake zone to cling to every aspect of their lives, including their provinces, districts, neighborhoods, homes and businesses. We will alleviate the sufferings, heal the wounds, and compensate for the losses resulting from this disaster without giving into fatigue and desperation,” Erdoğan added.

In this regard, the government has already announced that it will offer 15,000 Turkish Liras for moving expenses and 2,000 to 5,000 liras in rent aid for every house that has become non-inhabitable, as well as a support of 10,000 liras for every household in the initial phase, he reminded.

They will also cover the fuel expenses of those who transfer their families to the provinces outside the earthquake zone by their own vehicles, Erdoğan noted.

In addition, they will provide 100,000 liras in-cash aid to the relatives of citizens who have lost their lives in the earthquake for their urgent needs, Erdoğan explained.

Experts from across the world describe the last quakes in Türkiye as an “exceptional natural phenomenon,” Erdoğan emphasized.

The president said 100 countries responded to Türkiye’s international emergency call following the earthquake and that 84 of them have actively participated in the operations on the ground with 10,943 search and rescue personnel.

“Aid has been sent to our country with 444 flights from 61 countries. Our friends and brothers all across the world, from Africa to the Turkic States, the Gulf region to Europe and Asia to America, have mobilized for our country. On behalf of myself and my nation, I extend my gratitude to each and every one of our friends who stand by us in this difficult hour of Türkiye with their relief teams and aid as well as their commitments, emotional support and prayers,” he stated.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu updated the figures for foreign emergency teams on Feb. 15 and said personnel from 76 countries were on the field, while 12 others have left Türkiye after they finalized work in the quake zone.

Türkiye to start construction of 30,000 houses in quake zone in March: Erdoğan - Türkiye News (hurriyetdailynews.com) 

***

More detained, arrested in probe into contractors

Hurriyet, February 15, 2023

ISTANBUL

The number of detentions and arrests has increased in investigations in four earthquake-hit provinces into the buildings that were destroyed in the major tremor or that were found to have undergone illegal zoning changes.

Among the arrested is Ömer Cihan, the contractor of a building in Hatay, against whom the relatives of those who lost their lives in the apartment lodged a complaint.

After an arrest warrant was issued for him, police found out Cihan went to the coastal town of Manavgat with his family and stayed in a five-star hotel as an earthquake victim. Taken into custody, he was then arrested by the court.

Meanwhile, 26 more suspects were caught within the scope of the investigation carried out by the chief public prosecutor’s office in the quake-hit Malatya province. Efforts are underway to apprehend 14 more for whom detention warrants have been issued.

Prosecutors conduct investigations in the wreckages, accompanied by experts, taking iron and concrete samples from the debris. The technical examinations decide whether judicial proceedings will be initiated against those who have a defect.

An arrest warrant was issued for O.E., the project manager of a building in Şanlıurfa, which claimed the lives of 14 people, as a result of examinations. He was detained in Istanbul.

Among the 10 suspects taken into custody as part of the investigation regarding the buildings destroyed in Şanlıurfa, four more people, two of whom are contractors, were arrested.

In Adana, 16 people, the contractors and engineers of 13 buildings in Adana where 418 people lost their lives in the major quakes, were detained.

The Justice Ministry last week issued an announcement to the chief public prosecutor’s offices for an effective investigation in the 10 provinces affected by the earthquakes, asking them to establish “earthquake crime investigation offices.”

Prosecutors who will work in these offices to be established will not be given any other job, the announcement said, stressing that efforts will be made to identify the contractors, engineers of record and inspectors of the destroyed buildings, whose number exceeds 64,000.

The ministry deployed 304 additional prosecutors and 1,275 personnel in quake-affected provinces to investigate the collapsed buildings, as well as security issues in the region.

More detained, arrested in probe into contractors - Türkiye News (hurriyetdailynews.com)

***

Türkiye earthquakes comparable to largest nuclear test: US geologist

Twin quakes Türkiye suffered were as destructive as largest nuclear test ever carried out, American professor tells Anadolu

Yeni Safak, 15/02/2023, Wednesday

Last week’s twin earthquakes in Türkiye are comparable to the world's largest nuclear test, Jackie Caplan-Auerbach, a professor of geology at Western Washington University, told Anadolu on Tuesday.

In an evaluation of the magnitude and characteristics of the quakes, whose epicenters were southern Kahramanmaraş province’s Pazarcık and Elbistan districts, Caplan-Auerbach said the earthquakes were “a truly tragic event.”

“It's a somewhat unusual event in that this portion of southern Türkiye, although it does get earthquakes, has not seen an earthquake of this size in quite some time. That said, it's a very seismically active area. It's just that the timescales over which the Earth generates earthquakes and the timescales where we experienced them are somewhat different,” she added.

Emphasizing that the region is seismically active and there have been major earthquakes over time, Caplan-Auerbach said the growth of the population over time led to more casualties after such quakes.

She also underlined that the quakes happened at a depth that is very close to the surface, making the tragedy even worse.

“And that enhances the ground shaking, causing it to be a more violent experience,” she added.

- 'Uncommon but not unheard of'

Regarding the two devastating earthquakes in Kahramanmaraş, Caplan-Auerbach underlined that the quakes were “certainly uncommon, but not unheard of.”

“Sometimes motion on one fault will increase the stress on another and push it into failure. Whether that's what happened here, whether this is a traditional aftershock is harder to evaluate at this early stage," she added.

Caplan-Auerbach further stated that according to the current assessments, an earthquake on one fault line triggered another fault line.

“This is a huge aftershock. But again, this is not unheard of,” she said, referring to the magnitude 7.6 earthquake that took place later.

Reminding that another magnitude 7 earthquake struck a few days after a 6.5 magnitude quake in California a few years ago, Caplan-Auerbach said: "And then several days later, it had another one that was a little larger. That was a seven and change. So we do see them, but as you've said, they're less common," she said.

- 'We cannot say exactly what will happen in the future'

Pointing out that the earthquake was very close to the surface and in a wide area, Caplan-Auerbach said "it is very difficult to predict what will happen next in earthquakes.”

“They are very random events. They occur without warning. So our hope is that this area has released some of the stress, but it may have added stress to other portions, so we really cannot say what the future will hold.”

With regards to the magnitude, she said “this earthquake was a very, very big earthquake.”

“This was a very large earthquake. This was a magnitude 7.8. It's probably comparable with the largest nuclear test ever run -- not a bomb that hit anybody, but the largest bombs that we have tested. Obviously, a very different event in that it stretches across a very long area. The larger the earthquake, (and) typically, the larger the fault, the larger the area that moves,” she said.

“This fault line spans an area of more than 300 kilometers (186 miles). That's why it affected so many people,” she said.

In this case, that really meant it stretched across 300 kilometers or more, which is why it impacted so many communities. Earthquakes come and go, of course, a wide range of sizes, and the scale is enormous. It's a logarithmic scale, which means the 7.8 was probably twice as large as this, as the 7.5,” she added.

"We do see large earthquakes in the world…(But a) shallow (one) beneath the continent is somewhat unusual. It's sort of one of the largest ones that we have seen."

- 'Need to improve our building codes'

Caplan-Auerbach said that major earthquakes usually take place on ocean coasts where tectonic plates go under another plate.

"So for example, the 2011 Japan earthquake in Tohoku and the earthquake that hit Sumatra in 2004 were considerably larger but a little more distant from the communities they impacted."

"I think maybe the thing we see most clearly is the need to always improve our building codes, because the great tragedy has been the collapse of buildings. Older buildings are often not constructed to the levels that we know now,” she said.

"We always hope that we will all learn, but really the only other thing I will add is my deepest sympathies to the people of Türkiye and the people of Syria who are impacted by this. Please know that the whole world is standing with you and experiencing your grief with you," she added.

On Feb. 6, two massive earthquakes struck southern Türkiye.

The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 tremors were centered in Kahramanmaraş and hit nine other provinces – Hatay, Gaziantep, Adiyaman, Malatya, Adana, Diyarbakir, Kilis, Osmaniye and Sanliurfa.

They also affected several other countries and caused widespread destruction in northern Syria.

At least 35,418 people were killed in Türkiye, according to the latest official figures, while the death toll topped 3,600 in Syria.

Türkiye earthquakes comparable to largest nuclear test: US geologist (yenisafak.com)