Selcan Karabektaş, doctoral student at Grenoble Alpes University and researcher at CERDAP2
On Monday February 6, 2023, two earthquakes measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale occurred in the province of Kahramanmaraş: the first at 4:17 am, in Pazarcık, the second, at 1:24 pm, in Elbistan. These earthquakes, experienced as a veritable apocalypse by the populations concerned, are the most powerful to have hit Turkey since the 19th century. With a force equivalent to that of 130 atomic bombs, it was even felt in Greenland and Japan!
A unrivalled strength and geographical reach
The earthquake and its 145 aftershocks spread terror across southeastern Turkey and north-west Syria, killing at least 20,000 people and injuring killed and tens of thousands injured (according to figures available evening of February 9, 2023). The World Health Organization, which has mobilized all its resources, estimates that many people many people still trapped in the rubble, the death toll is likely to be much higher. the number of victims will certainly be much higher. In view of this dramatic situation Ankara and Damascus have appealed for international aid. At least 65 countries around the world have sent emergency rescue teams to help both the two countries. Syria's situation is exacerbated by the fact that it is still by the fact that it is still in a state of civil war, particularly in its northern the north of its territory, and that since 2011, the government of Bashar al-Assad's government has been under international sanctions.
Social networks were quick to report on the damage. These included striking photos and videos of people fleeing their buildings as they collapsed like houses of cards. The particular severity of this earthquake lies in its geographical amplitude, as most of south-east Turkey is affected; ten provinces in all, including rural areas that are difficult to access, but also and above all many large cities such as Adana, Dıyarbakır, Malatya, Adıyaman, Gaziantep, Antakya, Iskenderun, Şanlıurfa or Kahramanmaraş. Hundreds of thousands of people were thus suddenly left homeless, trying to find their loved ones in the collapsed remains of their homes, even as a particularly harsh winter hit the region this year.
Several historic sites have also been damaged or destroyed, in particular the historic castle of Gaziantep, beautiful monuments in Antakya (ancient Antioch, one of the cradles of Christianity) or the ancient site of Palmyra in Syria (already damaged by Daech a few years ago). On Tuesday, President Erdoğan declared a three-month state of emergency in the provinces concerned. In a televised address, he also declared that NATO, the European Union and dozens of other countries had offered to help. In Turkey, many public institutions, including hospitals and clinics, have been damaged and some completely destroyed. Schools will be closed for at least a week.
A natural but preventable disaster possible
According to geologist Naci Görür, this earthquake was earthquake was expected. "All the scientists in the world, including myself, have been saying that this earthquake was on our doorstep the death knell for years", said Görür, before concluding: "... nobody cared to listen to what we had to say". The Turkey lies between the northern and eastern fault lines of the Anatolian peninsula. It is therefore highly exposed to seismic activity. The country has been regularly devastating earthquakes, including a memorable one in 1999, epicenter near Izmit (east of Istanbul, in the province of Kocaeli). Kocaeli province). It killed around 18,000 people. The earthquake of 6 February will ultimately claim even more victims...
The country's last magnitude 7.8 tremor was in 1939, when 33,000 people perished in the northeastern province of Erzincan. Even if the cause of these disasters is natural, the death toll is linked to human activities and the ability of public authorities to prevent the final toll from being exacerbated. In the wake of this latest earthquake, the government, which for some years has been collecting a seismic tax to prepare cities for this kind of disaster, has been accused of failing to take the necessary precautions.
What's more, many residents in the worst-affected areas have pointed the finger at the late arrival of rescue services, dispatched by AFAD(Afet ve Acil Durum Yönetimi Başkanlığı/ the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Authority). The latter announced that it had mobilized 60,217 employees on the ground, but the Turkish Armed Forces(TSK - Türk Silhalı Kuvvetleri), which are usually actively involved in managing this kind of crisis in Turkey, did not arrive on the scene until two days after the tragedy. Many believe that these delays may have disrupted search operations. During the 1999 earthquake, the Turkish armed forces mobilized all their resources and facilities, and 24,000 soldiers were deployed in the earthquake zone.
What political, economic and electoral effects?
Kemal Kılıcdaroğlu, the leader of the CHP, the largest opposition party, went to the site on the second day of the disaster, accompanied by the mayors. second day of the disaster, accompanied by the mayors of Istanbul and Ankara of Istanbul and Ankara, Ekrem Imamoğlu and Mansur Yavaş, who belong to the same party as him. formation. He didn't hesitate to declare : "If there's one person responsible for all this, it's Erdoğan". He also added that, despite having been in power for twenty years, Erdoğan's Erdoğan's government has failed to prepare a truly effective plan to deal with deal with such earthquakes. Some observers have even claimed that, on the eve of the presidential and parliamentary elections, the AKP government government seems to be "more more concerned with its image than with saving people"..
By This tragedy has also put the spotlight back on the widespread fraudulent practices the widespread fraudulent practices of private construction companies safety regulations. It turns out that contractors contractors close to the government built multi-storey buildings with increased density, regardless of their resistance to earthquakes. And yet, Turkey introduced new standards in its building code following the catastrophic the catastrophic 1999 earthquake, requiring buildings to be resistant to be resistant to the strongest earthquakes. But given the speed and ease with which some buildings collapsed, it was clear that they that they did not meet the required criteria for resistance. Unfortunately, this means that the public authorities' duty to monitor by the public authorities. Unfortunately, this also explains why the number of number of victims.
While our first concern today must be to help them, we can't help looking to look further ahead. The full extent of the disaster is not yet known, but what is certain is that it has come at a very bad time, as Turkey had already been grappling with a devastating economic crisis for several years. While the Istanbul stock exchange has just suspended after three days of losses, it is certain that the Turkish economy (and and therefore the entire population of this country) will be impacted. What's more, even though the state of emergency, which has been declared for three months in ten provinces only a few days before the next presidential and legislative elections, the other question that springs to mind is whether these elections in the wake of this catastrophe. In the meantime, we can only hope that a large number of survivors have been pulled from the rubble from the rubble, and express our deepest empathy to the families of the victims.