Turkey-Syria quakes equal power of hundreds of nuclear bombs: AFAD
With over 300,000 displaced individuals and the death of over 23 thousand so far, the General Director of Earthquake Risk Reduction (AFAD) says the disaster exceeded expectations.
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An aerial view shows collapsed buildings in the aftermath of the deadly earthquake in Kahramanmaras, Turkey, February 9, 2023. (Reuters)
Orhan Tatar, General Director of Earthquake Risk Reduction at the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), said the quakes that struck Turkey and Syria hold the power of hundreds of nuclear bombs, wreaking unprecedented havoc across the countries.
"With the first earthquake lasting some 65 seconds and the second earthquake lasting 45 seconds, the energy released by the two tremors equaled that of 500 nuclear bombs," he said on Saturday.
Read more: Turkish rescue efforts were not as fast as hoped: Erdogan
The head of AFAD also noted that the size of the destruction has surpassed his and his team's expectations.
Turkey launches 'earthquake crimes' crackdown
Local Turkish media revealed on Saturday that the police arrested 12 individuals over collapsed buildings in Gaziantep and Sanliurfa.
According to DHA news agency, the arrests came following public outrage over the low-quality housing complexes in the earthquake-struck areas, noting that some of the people taken into custody are contractors.
The news agency confirmed that one of the contractors, who supervised the building of one of the complexes that collapsed in Gaziantep, was apprehended by Turkish police in Istanbul.
Read more: Sanctions hindered humanitarian response to disaster: Al-Jaafari
Prosecutors in the affected areas in Turkey, including Kahramanmaras, launched a broad investigation into people and entities accused of being responsible for the devastating impact of the earthquake.
Turkey's Ministry of Justice insctructed prosecuters of the 10 provinces that witnessed the most destruction by the catastrophe to establish special "earthquake crimes investigation offices."
Turkish police arrested on Friday a contractor of a number of high-rise luxury buildings that tumbled in Hatay province while he was attempting to flee the country through Istanbul airport.
State of emergency to fight abusers of the catastrophe
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed on Thursday attempts to exploit the disaster of the earthquake that struck the country for political purposes, noting that the three months state of emergency declared earlier would stop them.
Erdogan stressed that the state of emergency "will give the state the opportunity to intervene against those abusing the process, undertaking corruption, and money brokers," adding that "unfortunately, in some supermarkets and shopping malls, there are attempts of plunder. There will be the opportunity to intervene against these with the state of emergency.”
Deadliest regional natural disaster this century
More than 166,000 search and rescue personnel are currently working in the field, according to AFAD, which added that almost 92,700 people have been evacuated from quake-hit regions so far.
The 7.8 magnitude earthquake on Monday was one of the deadliest natural disasters to strike the region this century, and according to a report by The New York Times, dozens of countries sent rescue teams to help in the search. Experts warned that the window for finding survivors was closing, in the aftermath of the quake.
The death toll from the violent earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria surpassed 25,000 people, while Turkey also recorded earlier today that over 80,000 people were injured.
Rescue teams have been working around the clock to confirmed that many are still under the rubble as search operations continue.
Read next: Western selective humanitarianism, Syria earthquake falls on deaf ears
UAE and Libyan aid planes arrive in Syria
An Emirati plane arrived at Damascus International Airport today, loaded with relief aid for those affected by the earthquake, while a Libyan plane landed in Latakia airport coming from Benghazi with 38 tonnes of food and two ambulances.
The Assistant Minister of the Local and Environment Administration, Moataz Dohji, confirmed that the UAE plane arriving at Damascus International Airport is the thirteenth of its kind, with a cargo weight of about 88 tons, carrying food and relief aid to be provided to the people of the areas affected by the earthquake.
He also pointed out that the total number of planes that have arrived so far at the airports of Aleppo, Latakia and Damascus amounted to 55 planes, 28 landed of which landed in Damascus International Airport.
