Earthquake in Turkiye/Syria - 2 separate quakes in the region within hours of each other



How would you even go about repairing these roads?
 
P-Ro said:


How would you even go about repairing these roads?
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Speak to the Japanese, they suffered horrific damage to their roads and infrastructure after the 2011 earthquake there. Some roads looked far worse than that one and they had them repaired in less than a week. Some in 48 hours.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...thquake-Road-repaired-SIX-days-destroyed.html

It's times like this where international help is absolutely essential. The sharing of knowledge and having foreign workers and volunteers who are experienced in search and rescue and rebuilding etc is invaluable.
 
Confirmed death toll now approaching 20,000.
 
I have just read a report where an "expert" is saying there could well be over 65000 dead.

I have a horrible feeling, based on the breadth of the damage, that expert might turn out to be not far wrong.
 
So sad. This world is just a dangerous place! First the war in Ukraine, now this!
 
When they changed the name to Türkiye, was the rest of the world supposed to start using that spelling too? I haven't seen a single news report with that spelling
 
Latest number is over 20.000 dead. I still can't quite wrap my head around that. Most deadly disaster since 2010 Haiti?
 
Peter van der Gea said:
When they changed the name to Türkiye, was the rest of the world supposed to start using that spelling too? I haven't seen a single news report with that spelling
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It was meant to yes, including the OP who is an idiot.
 
Billions collected for earthquake mitigation tax over the past 20 years and apparently went to other projects run by Erdoğan's buddies. He could actually lose the election over this.
 
B20 said:
Billions collected for earthquake mitigation tax over the past 20 years and apparently went to other projects run by Erdoğan's buddies. He could actually lose the election over this.
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Heard on a news report that the account literally had less than the equivalent of $5 in it when the quake hit.
 
B20 said:
Billions collected for earthquake mitigation tax over the past 20 years and apparently went to other projects run by Erdoğan's buddies. He could actually lose the election over this.
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Fingers crossed.
 
That Sky News report just now. So devastating :(
 
AlPistacho said:
Amazing that these things need signing. Syria has been hit just as bad, maybe worse, and arguably is in need of more international help due to the broken infrastructure from the civil war.
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That particular part of Syria has probably been the worst affected during the civil war. Many of those areas in Idlib and north Aleppo province have been out of government control for a decade or more, and have suffered barrel bombs, chemical attacks, jihadi groups, siege-famines, etc. And now this, and they’ve been a bit over-looked due in part to that context, but also perhaps due to a general indifference to Syrian (and by extension Arab) suffering throughout much of the world today.

So emotional after watching that Sky News report and seeing Sky reporters enter Idlib for the first time. I’ve spent time in all these places on both sides of the border in the past, am absolutely stunned by this devastation.
 
calodo2003 said:
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A lot of governent officials took their share of brown envelopes despite the promises for reforms in the aftermath of the 1999 earthquake. As always, the innocent people are the ones paying a heavy price for the blatant dereliction of duty.
 
It's hard to watch the TV coverage of this. So many lives lost. So many lives still at risk. Frightening to see how little real help has arrived for the survivors. And that's really just based on the footage from Turkey - but I don't see how Syria can be doing any better.
 


This horrific disaster exposes Erdogan's incompetence and corruption just months before he stands for reelection.

Erdogan's centralization of authority makes it very difficult for independent aid groups or other institutions like the military to help. That leaves the victims to try to dig themselves out and rebuild.
 
2cents said:
That particular part of Syria has probably been the worst affected during the civil war. Many of those areas in Idlib and north Aleppo province have been out of government control for a decade or more, and have suffered barrel bombs, chemical attacks, jihadi groups, siege-famines, etc. And now this, and they’ve been a bit over-looked due in part to that context, but also perhaps due to a general indifference to Syrian (and by extension Arab) suffering throughout much of the world today.

So emotional after watching that Sky News report and seeing Sky reporters enter Idlib for the first time. I’ve spent time in all these places on both sides of the border in the past, am absolutely stunned by this devastation.
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2cents said:
I was in an area of northern Pakistan not far from the epicenter in 2005, but it escaped major damage despite getting a good shake. I was later told it was because where I was - Gilgit - is at a much higher altitude than the epicenter area around Muzaffarabad, which is a relatively lower level valley region, and so the mountains helped absorb the shock and take the edge off the impact.
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I didn’t want to reply to your two posts in the usual way I reply to posts on other subjects, half focused and with not much thought.

It feels cheap me talking about things that you have actually been through when I’ve had no experience of such events. I’m humbled and feel a lot of respect for the work you’ve done to help those people most of the world has forgotten about or choose to ignore. To have been through a major natural disaster and then still go out to help others facing different dangers says a lot about your character.
 
AlPistacho said:
I didn’t want to reply to your two posts in the usual way I reply to posts on other subjects, half focused and with not much thought.

It feels cheap me talking about things that you have actually been through when I’ve had no experience of such events. I’m humbled and feel a lot of respect for the work you’ve done to help those people most of the world has forgotten about or choose to ignore. To have been through a major natural disaster and then still go out to help others facing different dangers says a lot about your character.
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Sorry I think you may have misunderstood me a bit, I haven’t been helping out on the ground or anything (though reading back I can see how I might have given that impression). I happened to be traveling in northern Pakistan as a tourist when the earthquake struck in 2005, but wasn’t involved in any response. And while I have spent a good bit of time traveling in that part of Turkey and Syria in the 00s, I haven’t returned since 2009. I’m a helpless onlooker here like I’d guess pretty much everyone else in this thread.
 
2cents said:
Sorry I think you may have misunderstood me a bit, I haven’t been helping out on the ground or anything (though reading back I can see how I might have given that impression). I happened to be traveling in northern Pakistan as a tourist when the earthquake struck in 2005, but wasn’t involved in any response. And while I have spent a good bit of time traveling in that part of Turkey and Syria in the 00s, I haven’t returned since 2009. I’m a helpless onlooker here like I’d guess pretty much everyone else in this thread.
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To have been through the earthquake in 2005 is something I can’t imagine.

Yeah I assumed you was in Syria doing humanitarian aid. You actually just reminded me that before the war broke out Syria was a travel destination and one of the most highly rated places in the ME. It’s a bit of a shame people now think of the ME as being skyscrapers etc when its beauty is the history, beautiful & diverse geography, and above all else the hospitality of the people.
 
AlPistacho said:
To have been through the earthquake in 2005 is something I can’t imagine.
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I was really quite fortunate in not directly experiencing the initial devastation, despite feeling the shake. The far north of Pakistan where I was is relatively isolated so while the disaster zone was not too far away as the crow flies, I didn’t really get a sense of the scale of what had happened until I returned south a week or two later.

AlPistacho said:
You actually just reminded me that before the war broke out Syria was a travel destination and one of the most highly rated places in the ME.
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Absolutely, hopefully one day soon Syria can put this horrible period behind them and draw tourists again, it really is quite a special country. I often think of how places like Vietnam and Cambodia were once not too long ago bywords for warfare, genocide, etc. and are now popular backpacking destinations. Perhaps places like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan that have suffered so much in recent years can have similar turnarounds.
 
2cents said:
I was really quite fortunate in not directly experiencing the initial devastation, despite feeling the shake. The far north of Pakistan where I was is relatively isolated so while the disaster zone was not too far away as the crow flies, I didn’t really get a sense of the scale of what had happened until I returned south a week or two later.



Absolutely, hopefully one day soon Syria can put this horrible period behind them and draw tourists again, it really is quite a special country. I often think of how places like Vietnam and Cambodia were once not too long ago bywords for warfare, genocide, etc. and are now popular backpacking destinations. Perhaps places like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan that have suffered so much in recent years can have similar turnarounds.
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Similar with Colombia. Only a few decades ago that was like a no go country, Bogotá was the murder capital of the world, now it’s a travel destination and a few Americans are retiring there. So I think as time passes who knows. Funnily enough I’ve recently started seeing tictok videos of travel bloggers going to Afghanistan
 
Said it before, but in my opinion, one’s more deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize than this cat…

 
Chef José Andrés would be at the top or near the very top of my list for Nobel Peace Prize every year until he is awarded it.
 
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