# Context

Today, Turkey/Türkiye was struck by two earthquakes (and hopefully no more):

– A magnitude 7.7/7.8 [struck the central Turkey and northwest Syria in the morning](https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/major-earthquake-strikes-turkey-syria-about-200-dead-many-trapped-2023-02-06/). It is already [the deadliest earthquake Turkey has experienced in two decades](https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/major-deadly-earthquakes-past-two-decades-2023-02-06/). As of time of this post, most newspapers report +1500 dead, and thousands more injured.

– It has been felt in other countries in the region too, [like Cyprus and Lebanon](https://news.sky.com/story/strong-earthquake-hits-central-turkey-12804451).

– [Turkey’s South Hit by a Second High-Magnitude Earthquake (7.5/)](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-06/turkey-s-south-hit-by-a-second-high-magnitude-earthquake). As of time of this post, there isn’t much information regarding this second earthquake. EDIT: this could be one of the [aftershocks](https://www.jma.go.jp/jma/en/Activities/aftershock.html).

– World leaders expressed solidarity to the country, and most of them are mobilizing to help the countries in the region. [Deutsche Welle](https://www.dw.com/en/over-1000-dead-in-turkey-syria-after-powerful-earthquakes/a-64618303).

—

# Links and other relevant information

– [Wikipedia in English](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Turkey%E2%80%93Syria_earthquakes) about the current situation
– While Greece and Turkey are often at odds politically, they’ve helped each other in the past. See [Greek–Turkish earthquake diplomacy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek%E2%80%93Turkish_earthquake_diplomacy)

– **Donate** via [AFAD (Emergency and Disaster Management Presidency)](https://en.afad.gov.tr/campaigns) and [AKUT](https://www.akut.org.tr/en/donation).

—

# This megathread

While we hope that the situation stabilizes, moderators have the discretion to keep or remove videos and images, specially gore. Our [geopolicy](https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/wiki/geographical_policy) is quite clear as well about making an exception too.

[Subreddit rules apply as well](https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/wiki/community_rules), and we’ll be very strong on our bans that derail the discussion.

Note that the Daily Sabah is a banned source in this subreddit. If you’re linking to Turkish sources, don’t forget to provide a translation in the comments.

22 comments

  3. Syria’s looking very bad. We just don’t have the capabilities or resources to effectively deal with this, I’m not even sure we did before the war let alone now and I don’t expect we’ll be receiving much international help.

  4. ussualy there are two strong ones

    and then several thousands of weak ones (for next year or two) it was so in Croatia (year and two ago)

  6. Watching live news is surreal. People crying, rubble everywhere, buildings still crumbling and sometimes some people being rescued. They just rescued 2 kids. This is disastrous for turkey.

  8. Map of Turkey at-risk area for seismic activities

    [https://seismo.berkeley.edu/gifs/blog_20200126_Figure2.png](https://seismo.berkeley.edu/gifs/blog_20200126_Figure2.png)

    [https://seismo.berkeley.edu/blog/2020/01/26/quake-in-turkey-highlights-the-hazard-in-the-east-bay.html](https://seismo.berkeley.edu/blog/2020/01/26/quake-in-turkey-highlights-the-hazard-in-the-east-bay.html)

    Current earthquake is due to Arabian plate pushing on the Anatolian one.

    Signs of instability were present already in 2020.

  10. Kind of surreal observing military aircraft movements over Turkey. Many Turkish Air Force transports (C-130 Hercules, A400M Atlas) crisscrossing the country. The city of Adana near the coast appears to be the focal point of much of the traffic. Two Hercules of the Bulgarian Air Force took off from Sofia and appeared to be heading to Adana while descending, probably carrying search and rescue personnel and relief supplies.

  11. Turkey has its the biggest 2nd and 3rd earthquakes in the same day, same area. More than 10 cities are impacted. 2/3 country felt the earthquakes.

    Long in short, there has been 2 different earthquakes on same area within 10 hours duration. First hit with 7.7 magnitude at 04.17 am in the morning, second 7.6 magnitude at 12.24 pm in the afternoon. And both are 2-3 times bigger than ’99 Gölcük earthquake. Following earthquakes are between 4-6 magnitude. It is still happening.

  12. Can we get some trustworthy links here for those of us who are in a position to support the emergency services/other relevant organizations in Turkey? Thank you.

  14. I can’t keep up with the “save us” tweets of people who are under the collapsed buildings anymore. Winter is very harsh and we are in a very difficult situation. The worst part is people got caught earthquake during their sleep at midnight. It’s the biggest earthquake and catastrophe happened in Turkey.

    The ministry of interior says Turkey has declared a fourth level alert state. The “level 4” alarm condition includes an international call for help. The damage is horrific. Unfortunately the weather conditions here is challenging. It’s below 0 Celsius,snowy and thus the situation here is very difficult. At least 10 cities, have been affected.

    Last update : Hulusi Şahin, Governor of Malatya, one of the provinces affected by the earthquake: “According to the first estimates, 130 buildings were destroyed. There are more than 420 injured, the bodies of 3 people were removed from the rubble. Search and rescue efforts continue.”

    Update 2: Elon Musk announced that he can send Starlink internet satellite to Turkey.

    “We can ship as soon as SpaceX is approved by the Turkish government.”

    Update 3: The death toll is increasing more and more. The number is 76 for now. (AFAD)

    Update 4: Turkey has formally appealed for international aid regarding the earthquake.

    Update 5: Adıyaman Governor: “At least 28 people lost their lives, we found that around 100 buildings were destroyed.”
    At least 200 buildings were destroyed across Turkey.

    Update 6: White House: “We have contacted the Turkish authorities to let them know that we are ready to provide any necessary assistance.”

    Update 7: The death toll is 284 right now and 1710 buildings were destroyed. Japanese earthquake disaster expert teams are coming to Turkey. The Turkish army also participated in the search and rescue efforts. The Turkish Armed Forces and Gendarmerie went into a state of alert in the regions where the earthquake occurred.

    Update 8 : Poland will send firefighters to help Turkey with earthquake debris. Turkey officially accepted it. Azerbaijan is sending a search and rescue team of 370 people to Turkey.

    Update 9: China has stated that they are ready to send aid to Turkey. Israel is preparing an emergency aid program for Turkey.

    Update 10: The death toll is 912 right now! 2818 buildings were destroyed. 5385 people is wounded. Some of the hospitals were also destroyed. Greece is mobilizing its resources and sending aid for Turkey. Kazakhstan is also preparing to help.

    Update 11: Erdoğan says that “Besides NATO and the European Union, 45 countries contacted Turkey to convey their aid.”

    Update 12: Another earthquake hit Kahramanmaraş, Turkey again! Magnitude 7.5 [Newscaster caught in the earthquake on live broadcast](https://twitter.com/ZAMajans/status/1622548124609703936?t=ZwIasgGDpyvkq7jpw0Y4WA&s=19)

    Update 13: The death toll is 1014. 15.000 people are on the field to help victims. (AFAD)

    Update 14: AFAD ( Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency) has established many tents. People are being sent evacuation areas where government aid people by giving them food accommodations and so on. Algeria announced that it will send a search and rescue team to Turkey.

    Update 15: It is reported that some of the players of some football teams in the Turkish Super League have passed away under the debris.

    Update 16: The death toll is 1.121. 7.634 people are wounded. An user, astral34, said that “Italy also offered firefighters, waiting for approval according to our Ministry of Interior”

    Update 17 : There were 130 aftershocks after massive earthquakes. 2834 buildings were destroyed.

    [The moment a little boy is rescued from debris](https://twitter.com/BilinmeyenlerB/status/1622560959121264641?t=zEQUNtpb6aQfJwUHNQLiOw&s=19)

    [A new earthquake happened again in Elbistan during live broadcast magnitude is 7.6](https://twitter.com/Darkwebhaber/status/1622563860489162752?t=ifMsIom_kBqDWVeohimpdg&s=19)

    [It’s 1 minute long video that shows collapsed buildings in Kahramanmaraş.](https://twitter.com/nevsinmengu/status/1622537594629156865?t=zZXqb5O7H1imgq–mRC7-g&s=19)

    [The moment of the collapse of a building in Diyarbakir](https://twitter.com/Darkwebhaber/status/1622433416812662789?t=x6qkzbD1XnpwN0qnGz-Ftg&s=19)

    [Another footage from Malatya](https://twitter.com/Medyanin50Tonu/status/1622413576584445952?t=n6oHtRCgP_AkSM7GkznrNg&s=19)

    [A footage from Gaziantep](https://twitter.com/Darkwebhaber/status/1622420103466811396?t=YY8c1jwncBa-PetcCC8Jng&s=19)

    [as the sun rises, Diyarbakır ](https://twitter.com/lvntozrn/status/1622453649191452679?t=LLBRE3iUyCb218Isn5XA5w&s=19)

    [as the sun rises the clearest video of disaster Kahramanmaraş ](https://twitter.com/mstfsn62/status/1622456017345818626?t=TOZZ1YKgU3_9DROeRtanXA&s=19)

    [it’s morning and and a citizen tries to be heard dead bodies were seen, Hatay](https://twitter.com/pablitonuz/status/1622520205665599488?t=qS8F1inEIzMKO-nxf1IdDQ&s=19)

    [Hatay Highway ](https://twitter.com/ZAMajans/status/1622487321428770816?t=BE7wuc7cCJ5IPQVv9gQazw&s=19)

    [Video of collapsed areas in Antakya ](https://twitter.com/haskologlu/status/1622523459216502786?t=QLjv2ShADcuwZPBkd7Gj4w&s=19)

    [This is how a building collapsed after the aftershock in Şanlıurfa.](https://twitter.com/pusholder/status/1622497282686853127?t=0fBb7Ft_Xjksi92-Uhazhg&s=19)

    [Malatya](https://twitter.com/pusholder/status/1622488566520487936?t=NqAF8JbCkfnnoUp114B5Vg&s=19)

  19. If you are considering to make a donation(and please do if you are able to, as it’ll be snowing in 6 of the worst hit cities in coming days where over 4 million people resides and potentially will be unable to get into their homes), here someone made a very useful walkthrough for how to donate to Afad (Disaster and Emergency Management – who are currently doing the bulk of research and rescue operations and severely undermanned against the circumstances)

    https://at.tumblr.com/timeturnerturns/as-you-may-have-heard-there-has-been-a-major/fqjcdbaxnkvm

    There is also an reliable NGO called @ahbap (their founder is @haluklevent on twitter if you want further info and to check out updates) in case you want to donate to somewhere less state affiliated. They are very active in bringing aid and needed supply to the zone. They have ibans on their website for donations. You can make a donations from abroad using this swift code called “ISBKTRIS” https://ahbap.org/bagisci-ol
    I wrote this in a hurry after seeing people asking where they can rely enough to donate so if you have anything to add please reply and i’ll edit.

  22. ❗️❗️❗️AN IMPORTANT REMINDER: please be understanding in this tough time, and have some compassion. THOUSANDS of people have been killed in one of the worst ways possible. I’m talking about innocent people who have NOTHING TO DO with Erdogan’s policies. (Most of us hate him too. I hope he goes to hell)

    I’ve seen many vile comments on Twitter and Reddit. I get where those are coming from. You have all the right to say anything you want to say about politicians, but before posting a mean comment about the earthquake, and the people here, take a moment and ask yourself if you really want to be that person.

    Many INNOCENT people cannot get a hold of their family members. People are stuck under the debris. Those who survived are waiting out in the cold, waiting to see their loved ones. Again, THOUSANDS of people have been killed. You have no idea how tragic it is to go through something like this. If you don’t have anything nice to say, just don’t say anything and let people mourn.

    I hate this world.

Leave a Reply