Deathly waves sweep across Türkey, Syria
By Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi, February 6: The people all across the world are watching with hearts in their mouths videos of the deathly destructions caused by multiple earthquakes in Türkey and Syria. The death toll is mounting, while several cities in the two countries have been flattened.
“Two big independent earthquakes and 145 aftershocks occurred with an interval of nine hours in the southeastern part of Türkey. The first jolt of the earthquake came at 04.17 am, with a magnitude of 7.7 on the Richter scale. The epicenter was in the Pazarcik district of Kahramanmaras, which swept through 10 provinces in the country,” Duygu Çağla Bayram, an Ankara-based strategic affairs scholar told The Raisina Hills.
She further stated that the second earthquake came at13.24 pm, with the epicenter at Elbistan, Kahramanmaras. “The latest update stated that 1541 people have died, while 9733 have been injured. A total of 3471 buildings have been destroyed,” added Bayram, who feared that the number of death toll and the injured may rise. The worst hit region incidentally houses millions of refugees from the Syrian civil war.
Reports showed that several of the cities, which have been flattened are still beyond the reach of the rescue and relief personnel. Television reporters caught the tremors live on the screens while they were in the field covering the devastation of the first earthquake. The buildings came crashing down while the camerapersons were shooting the live coverage of the earthquake. Some even suggested that the massive earthquakes may have set off chain of aftershocks which could spread over regions.
The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pressed in the emergency response, as the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and medical teams along with relief material reached Türkey on rescue and relief mission. Besides India, other nations also have rushed the rescue team to the earthquake hit countries. India already has experience in the region of carrying out rescue mission, as the Indian government had ordered evacuation efforts from war ravaged Syria a few years ago.
The relief measures will be taken up in coordination with the government of Türkey. Modi gave instructions to the officials to offer all possible assistance and relief measures to the victims of the earthquake. The Indian government said that two teams of NDRF comprising 100 personnel with specially trained dog squads and necessary equipment are ready to be flown to the earthquake-hit areas for search and rescue operations, while the medical teams are also ready with doctors and paramedics with essential medicines. “Relief material will be dispatched in coordination with the government of Türkey and the Indian Embassy in Ankara,” said a senior official.
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