The one-month anniversary of Turkey’s devastating earthquake, that hit Turkey on February 6, 2023, has just passed. Killing around 50,000 people affecting, 14 million people’s lives, and is estimated to have cost 34 billion dollars (about $100 per person in the US) worth of damage.
At 4:17 am (local time) on February 6, this past month, a 7.8 earthquake struck central and southern Turkey and northern/western Syria. Putting millions of homes and buildings into rubles and destroying thousands of families lives. Two weeks after the earthquake, Turkey had ended most searches and rescues because of what Ilan Kelman, professor of disasters and health at University College London said to CNN, “there is a “hierarchy” of needs in these survival situations, “The rule of thumb is three minutes without oxygen, three days without water, three weeks without food,” he said, meaning “there has to be survivable space…enough oxygen.” Kelan says that it will not matter anymore because everyone that has been consumed by the earthquake could not have made it this far. As sad as that is, many families have not lost hope yet. Like Songul Yucesoy a homeless mother who is trying to survive with her family, she talks to BBC about her lost sister, “We don’t know whether her body was taken out yet or not. We are waiting. We can’t start mourning. We can’t even find our lost one.” Many have not lost hope yet.
As the earthquake managed to put so many people homeless and in poverty. The earthquake also has impacted Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan politically. Many accuse him of not taking more drastic measures in search and rescue. Soner Cagaptay the author of “Erdogan’s Empire: Turkey and The Politics of the Middle East,” he talks to Michel Martin on NPR, talking about how Erdogan will face a lot of hatred because, “I think the country is now still in the stage of grief, trying to come to terms with loss. And next, of course, what will follow is anger. So, President Erdogan is going to face criticism for relief and rescue efforts and construction and corruption and all of that.” How Erdogan approached the earthquake relief has made citizens mad, which will probably cost him the election.
The damage from the earthquake was horrendous. While it put millions of people homeless, it also costs 34 BILLION dollars worth of damage. This will dramatically slow the economy down and will take years to bounce back from this. However, Turkey has never had an economic crisis and is mostly prepared for this. Rescue workers, nonprofits, and the common good will continue to do whatever they can to help the survivors.