On the sixth of February, there were two devastatingly powerful earthquakes upon southeastern Turkey, and northern Syria. They were of 7.4 and 7.8 magnitude, and left pernicious results in those areas.

According to James Ryan and his article on the Foreign Policy Research Institute: “In all likelihood, this disaster will rank among the top-five deadliest earthquakes of this century. While it may take some time to calculate the full extent of the damage, the strength of these twin earthquakes is thought to match or exceed that of the 1999 Duzce earthquake, which occurred near Istanbul and claimed 18,000 lives.”

This article from the Washington Post gave some insight for how this first Earthquake might have happened. “After each earthquake, the USGS publishes information on the mechanism that triggered an earthquake. It concluded that the 7.8 quake was triggered by two faults moving laterally against each other, or a strike slip. In this case, it was a “left lateral” strike slip, since both masses of Earth’s crust moved left in relation to the other.”

This is not the only earthquake to have hit Turkey. On February 21, two weeks after the first two, a second group consisting of two earthquakes hit Hatay, reaching up to a magnitude of 6.3.  There have also been plenty of temblors and massive aftershocks, trapping citizens in already damaged buildings.

With these two disasters combined, the death toll has reached nearly 47,000, and is still unfortunately making its way upwards. More than 108,000 people are injured, and nearly millions are left homeless.

According to Jane Ferguson and Zeba Warsl’s news transcript on PBS, “In the two weeks since deadly earthquakes hit southern Turkey and northern Syria, the focus has shifted from rescue to rehabilitation. The task ahead is not only to reconstruct homes, but also to rebuild lives, especially for the youngest victims. Special correspondent Jane Ferguson reports.”

Efforts have been made to aid Turkey and Syria in these difficult and tragic times. There are currently several other online articles that detail certain donation organizations and sites that can be used to help out the countries. There are also other organizations who are taking a more hands-on approach and rescuing those who are currently stuck in the wreckage.

Reconstruction will take a lot more time, however. Turkey has been in an economic crisis since around 2018, and this disaster will bring more troubles for the future.