Earthquakes hit Turkey and Syria

Witzend

And where has all the money gone - the fees payable for exemption from building regulations?
I could make a guess!

🤔 not sure what that means, Witzend?
Or Urmstongran?

Poof! ‘What money?’.

And where has all the money gone - the fees payable for exemption from building regulations?
I could make a guess!

www.dec.org.uk/appeal/turkey-syria-earthquake-appeal

The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) now have the link updated on their website, supporting multiple charities in the region.

Please donate to the Red Cross as they are always there. Any amount you can give will be well spent.

So sad. Unimaginable losses and tragedies. Makes me give myself a good slap for my lapses into moaning mode. Boo hoo my house is cold, my house is a mess, I'm fed up....

My great friend has told me that 2 family members aged 3 and 7 have died in Syrian/Turkish earthquake.I cannot imagine the pain he is going through.

It horrendous what their going through
Both The Red Cross and Oxfam are taking donations every £1 will help and both take PayPal as well as card online
Do make sure your on the correct www sites of course, enclosed links below
It’s at least one way we can try to help those poor souls

www.oxfam.org.uk/oxfam-in-action/current-emergencies/turkey-and-syria-earthquake-appeal/?fbclid=IwAR38I0gaZ6ehfpygdJBb_vgN57mxBhDGLgaoOZa7Lbf9VaHGQssgPGq3U4A

Or

donate.redcross.org.uk/appeal/turkey-syria-earthquake-appeal?fbclid=IwAR1UIHGF00EdEhBsUqORds3LRdVDutkk620WLSBsowACK8hwLCIAhrHq20Q

The latest figures of lives lost is 11,000, which I just can’t imagine. And looking into the future, who will finance the rebuilding of these buildings, and will they be earthquake secure, as obviously most of them weren’t. Just heartbreaking. It makes me realise how fortunate we are to live in a country which only has slight tremors.

It was seeing the grandmother weeping because she'd lost her grandchildren that started me weeping too.
You'd give your life if it meant it saved theirs.
😪

The scope of this earthquake is just staggering. I can hardly wrap my head around the enormity of this situation.

I will be donating $$$ to an American non-profit called Americares where all donations are used for medical supplies/help. They funnel their monies to wherever the greatest need or conflict is (in the world!) They are global. Last year it was Ukraine.

Another very good non-profit is World Central Kitchen run by chef Jose Andres. His teams pop-up seemingly overnight to start making hot food for those in need. They are global.
Go For It!
Cheers! (and prayers)
USA Gundy

The baby girl pulled out yesterday still attached to her umbilical cord. Her mother apparently gave birth to her under the rubble. Mother is sadly dead. What a horrific experience for the mother. What a start in life for the baby. So very sad.

Yammy

International Aid seems to me to be slow all round. People are still being pulled out alive. What I don't understand is why if Turkey is in such an earthquake-prone zone they are not constantly prepared to get in and help. People were shouting at police who said they would come back but they suspected they wouldn't. If it were say Japan they would have the infrastructure to help straight away.
Syria is beyond belief the baby saved from its dead mother made me feel so humble.

Rescue teams from around the world are prepared but they don't just sit around, waiting for a disaster to happen. The teams have jobs, lives but are always prepared to go into action as fast as possible.

I think sending a first response team out on the same night from the UK was pretty rapid and obviously more help will be on its way as urgently as is possible.

Japan is a much smaller country and is very efficiently run.

Assad trained as a surgeon in one of London's teaching hospitals before he returned to Syria. What happened to the oath he must have taken ...'do no harm'. He ranks alongside Putin as sub-human in my opinion. It's so heartbreaking for those poor people.

Casdon

I’m most concerned about Syria, a lot of international aid is being mobilised to help in Turkey now, but there’s little on the news about Syria, it’s obviously dangerous to provide support there but the people need it.

Assad is apparently bombing the rescue missions according to what I have just read online. Just how low can the man get????

This observation is concerning.

“Turkey’s last devastating earthquake prompted the government to introduce stricter construction rules. Mr Erdogan was scathingly critical of the government’s response when he was in opposition but almost a quarter of a century on, critics say little appears to have changed on the ground.

The Erdogan-led government has declared several amnesties including one launched in 2018 called “zoning peace” which allowed anyone to legalise whatever property they may have built or renovated in violation of building regulations in exchange for a fee.

About 13 million noncompliant buildings across Turkey have since become legal thanks to the loophole, according to industry estimates. “Many new buildings have become earthquake-fraught after unauthorised renovations,” said Prof Pelin Pinar Giritlioglu, head of the Istanbul branch of the Chamber of Turkish Engineers and Architects.

“The state has pardoned those buildings in exchange for money and promised to turn a blind eye to them… With the earthquake, we have come up with the tragic outcome of this set-up.”

Heartbreaking situation for the poor people in midst of this. Apparently the authorities doing not a lot specially for smaller towns and villages, even when they're just minutes from main highways and cities!! Some saying that so called aid from authorities knock off home at 5!!! Heartened to see UK stepping up again with practical useful aid already there! Sure other nations will do similar, Turkish gov need a kick up the jaxxi!

So very upset with every report coming from Turkey via Red Cross Appeals. Those people need so much help

It’s obvious from some of the photos that while many large buildings were reduced to rubble, others very close by - even just across the road - were still intact. So it would seem that even in such an earthquake-vulnerable zone, buildings can be constructed to withstand them - but many evidently haven’t been.

We visited post-tsunami Aceh while dd was still working there - stayed on the 5th floor of a modern hotel and woke one night to find the bed shaking as if a giant had got hold of it - and all the hangers in the wardrobe rattling like mad.

In the morning there was zero damage and the staff were completely unconcerned - we read that it was ‘only’ a 6.1 - but bloody scary! (Dh of course insisted that he wasn’t scared at all.).
They do have mini shocks and tremors in the area all the time, but buildings obviously can be made to withstand even much bigger ones.

International Aid seems to me to be slow all round. People are still being pulled out alive. What I don't understand is why if Turkey is in such an earthquake-prone zone they are not constantly prepared to get in and help. People were shouting at police who said they would come back but they suspected they wouldn't. If it were say Japan they would have the infrastructure to help straight away.
Syria is beyond belief the baby saved from its dead mother made me feel so humble.

I've stopped watching. Too horrific. I can figure it out in my head without regular reports on death statistics and visual awfulness. However....I'm still staggered at the discovery of the newborn girl complete with umbilical cord. My wonderment knows no bounds.

Terrible.

Will they lift sanctions? I hope so, but doubt it somehow.
As if the Syrian people haven't suffered enough for years.

Apologies Callistemon, I created a free account, forgot about that when I posted it. This is the position.

The Bab al-Hawa border crossing is the one used for millions of people in Syria's northwest, as they live in areas the Syrian government does not control. Normally, more than 1,000 truckloads of aid pass through the crossing each month. (This I presume must be what the White Helmets are coordinating).

The Bab al-Hawa crossing itself is "actually intact", according to the spokesperson for UN secretary general Stephane Dujarric. "However, the road that is leading to the crossing has been damaged, and that’s temporarily disrupted our ability to fully use it," he said in a press conference.

Other crossings between Syria and Turkey are subject to sanctions, so effectively there is no way to get the aid to the people who need it effectively at the moment. There are calls for the sanctions to be temporarily lifted, but in the meantime it must be a terrible situation there.

I can't access that without creating an account but I did find this which is undated, but I think was last year, so pre-earthquake which means the situation is dire for those poor people.

phr.org/renew-syria-border-crossings/

I saw that on the news Callistemon, they have been asking for help because of the scale of the disaster, hopefully more has been forthcoming,
I’ve just seen this though, so what *Witzend said is unfortunately what is happening by the looks of it.
www.nytimes.com/2023/02/07/world/europe/turkey-syria-quake-un-aid.html