A number of countries have begun sending aid to earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria. Meanwhile, rescue teams race against time to find and save survivors.
By
Kompas Team
·5 minutes read
AP/IHA
Aerial photo shows the destruction in Hatay city center, southern Turkey, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023. The death toll soared above 5,000 and was still expected to rise. of collapsed buildings across the region.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS – A number of countries have begun sending aid to earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria. As of Tuesday (7/2/2023), the death toll has exceeded 5,100 people and is expected to continue to grow. The series of earthquakes that shook the border areas between the two countries on Monday damaged tens of thousands of buildings, bridges, roads and various other facilities.
The government is preparing humanitarian aid for earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria, which will be sent soon. “Aid is being prepared by the Foreign Ministry, the Defense Ministry and the Social Affairs Ministry. It will be shipped as soon as it’s ready. Just this morning we were still looking for a plane,” said President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in a press conference at the State Palace in Jakarta.
Through his official Twitter account, the President expressed his condolences to the people of Syria and Turkey. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. Indonesia stands in solidarity with the people of Turkey and Syria,” wrote the President.
Vice President Ma’ruf Amin also conveyed the government’s plans to send aid to Turkey in a press statement at the Java Integrated Industrial Port Estate (JIIPE) in Gresik, East Java, especially considering that Turkey was one of the first countries to send aid after the 2004 tsunami that hit Aceh.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. Indonesia stands in solidarity with the people of Turkey and Syria.
Indonesia sent its first batch of aid for earthquake victims in Turkey on Tuesday. The Indonesian Embassy in Ankara delivered a container containing instant food, portable stoves and gas cylinders. “This is the first stage of aid,” said Indonesian Ambassador in Ankara Lalu, Muhammad Iqbal.
The Indonesian Embassy in Ankara is also trying to evacuate 123 Indonesian citizens from a number of disaster locations. They will be brought to Ankara because their homes have been destroyed and there is no temporary shelter.
The Indonesian Embassy in Damascus also contacted several hospitals and clinics around the disaster sites in Syria. Thus far, no Indonesian citizens have been found to be victims of the earthquake in Syria.
Several Indonesian institutions have prepared to dispatch workers to Turkey. The Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) chairman Jusuf Kalla said the organization would send US$70,000 in aid to Turkey and $30,000 to Syria. The funds will be channeled through the Turkish Red Crescent and Syrian Red Crescent respectively.
Rescue
The Turkish government closed roads to Gaziantep, Hatay, Adana and Kahramanmaras. Vehicles that are not carrying aid or members of the emergency response team are prohibited from entering the hard-hit provinces.
Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay explained that it was done to expedite the delivery of aid to the disaster sites. Ankara designated Adana as a terminal for gathering aid prior to distribution.
The Turkish government also closed airports in the four provinces. Some of the runways at these airports were damaged by the earthquake, making it impossible for aid to arrive quickly. Thus, aid can only be sent by car, but amid the snow it is not an easy task either.
AFP/OMAR HAJ KADOUR
This aerial view shows residents searching for victims and survivors amidst the rubble of collapsed buildings following an earthquake in the village of Besnia near the twon of Harim, in Syria's rebel-held noryhwestern Idlib province on the border with Turkey, on February 6, 2022. - Hundreds have been reportedly killed in north Syria after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake that originated in Turkey and was felt across neighbouring countries.
The Pakistani Foreign Affairs Ministry announced that one of its C-130 aircrafts and one commercial aircraft operated by Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) are already on their way to Turkey. The planes are carrying aid and emergency responders.
The Chinese Red Cross sent $400,000 in aid to Syria and Turkey. Beijing also prepared an initial $5.9 million in aid for the two countries.
Russia has also dispatched rescue teams to Syria. Russia operates a number of military bases in Syria. Russia sent 300 members of their emergency response team to the disaster site.
From the United States, 100 Los Angeles County firefighters and structural experts, along with several specially trained dogs, were flown to Turkey to support the rescue operation.
Search and rescue efforts are also being carried out via satellite. The European Union scans the disaster site with the Copernicus satellite, looking for objects that emit heat under the rubble. If an object is detected, there may be buried victims that need immediate rescue.
The first batch of EU emergency teams left for Turkey on Monday. Several EU members are also mobilizing urban emergency response teams to be sent to Turkey. They are trained to save people buried under the rubble of collapsed buildings.
Challenges
There are a number of challenges in rescuing the victims. Weather conditions, for one, hamper immediate rescue efforts. The temperature around the disaster sites can reach under 5 degrees Celsius during the day and even colder at night. Moreover, it has been snowing in some of the locations even before the earthquake struck.
Syria also faces the challenge of being a country in a civil war. Some of the disaster sites are under the control of rebels from various factions.
The United Nations Office Coordinator in Syria El-Mostafa Benlamih said the UN was trying to ensure that all victims had access to aid. The UN is considering a number of options to send aid to Syrian victims. This includes sending aid from Turkey as the country’s road and bridge network is more suitable compared to Syria’s.
Various charity and emergency response organizations in the disaster area have asked for aid to be sent immediately. In the early stages, it is crucial to have more personnel on search and rescue teams. Turkey’s disaster management agency, AFAD, estimated that more than 10,000 buildings were destroyed across the four provinces affected by the quake.
It is feared that many people are still buried under the rubble. Nearly 13,000 people were deployed to search for victims. (AFP/REUTERS/AP/RAZ/DNE/MHD/JOS/WKM/CAS)
