The people of the south spent the night restless yesterday Turkey And her northern Syriaafter two very powerful earthquakes which buried thousands under the rubble, brought millions more into the streets, faced with bitter cold and sleet, shook Damascus and Beirut, and reached Tel Aviv, Gaza and Cairo. The international community was immediately mobilized and put their differences aside to help the two countries, as fears were expressed that the final loss could approach or even exceed the 18,000 victims of the terrible Nicomedia earthquake in August 1999.

The first earthquake occurred at 4:17 am (local time) with an epicenter near the Pazarchik district of Kahramanmara province, near the border with Syria. It had a magnitude of 7.8 on the Richter scale and a focal depth of 17.9 km. The combination of very high intensity and relatively shallow depth made the seismic waves especially destructive, and the released energy was directed to the southeast. The situation worsened at 1:24 p.m. when a second earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale occurred about 100 km from the first earthquake.

Thousands of buildings collapsed in a geographic area with a diameter of about 350 kilometers, including major cities from Diyarbakir, Adana and Gaziantep in southern Turkey to Aleppo and Hama in the north and center of Syria. Hospitals collapsed in the Turkish port of Alexandretta and in the Turkish city of Antiyaman, while Tayyip Erdogan reported almost 3,000 building collapses in seven different provinces. The Turkish president spoke about the worst earthquake disaster his country has known since 1939 and declared seven days of national mourning.

The situation in Syria, where many buildings had already been damaged or were in danger due to the civil war, which forced about 4 million people to leave their homes and live as internal refugees. Damaged roads, problems with the Internet and severe frost further complicated the work of rescuers, who raced over time to find survivors under the rubble.

Aleppo Citadel and Gaziantep Castle were severely damaged by two successive earthquakes that were felt even in Cairo.

At least 45 countries offered assistance in search and rescue operations until last night, the Turkish government said. On the European Union side, at least ten member states, including Greece, mobilized rescue teams heading for Turkey, while on the EU side, it was ready to help Syria too, although it had not yet received a similar request from Damascus. US President Joe Biden expressed deep grief over the casualties and disasters in the two countries, and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that mechanisms for providing humanitarian assistance to the two countries are mobilized – in the case of Syria, with which the US does not maintain diplomatic relations, through humanitarian organizations.

Among the first people to speak on the phone with Tayyip Erdogan and his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad was Vladimir Putin, whose country is a close ally of Syria and has very good relations with Turkey. Russian rescuers flew to both countries yesterday. There was a sensation when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that his country had accepted a request for help from Syria, although he did not specifically mention the government of Bashar al-Assad, with whom Israel has no diplomatic relations. Damascus denies asking the Israelis for help.

ancient monuments

The tremors of Enceladus did not leave untouched the ancient monuments of the two countries. In Syria, the citadel of Aleppo, an architectural gem from the medieval era, was hit, as was the Old City, which was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Danger due to the civil war in 2018. On the other side of the border, the historic Gaziantep Castle was badly damaged, parts of the walls and some observation towers collapsed.