Enlarge / Search and rescue efforts continue at collapsed buildings in Hatay after 7.7- and 7.6-magnitude earthquakes hit multiple provinces of Turkey. (credit: Anadolu Agency)
Two days after a devastating earthquake struck, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited one of the worst-affected areas and declared that it was “not possible to be prepared for such a disaster.”
Certainly the scale of the destruction was unforeseen. The death toll from the earthquakes of February 6, 2023, that struck Turkey and Northern Syria is still climbing. But one week on, it has been documented that over 35,000 people were killed, with more than 50,000 injured and over 1,000,000 receiving aid for survival in bitter cold conditions. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake hit while many were sleeping in the town of Pazarcık in Kahramanmaraş, Southern Turkey—the epicenter of the quake. It was followed nine hours later by a major aftershock in Elbistan, a town about 50 miles from the initial quake, sending buildings weakened in the first shock to total collapse.
The final death tolls are likely to place these two successive earthquakes among the worst natural disasters that have been witnessed in the world.
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