Earthquakes kill thousands across Syria and Turkey, five dead in an Israeli raid on Jericho, and a woman’s killing leads to outrage in Iraq. Here’s this week’s roundup, written by Abubakr Al-Shamahi and Danylo Hawaleshka.
There are few words to adequately describe the heartbreaking scenes that have unfolded in southwestern Turkey and northern Syria this week in the wake of two major earthquakes. A magnitude 7.8 quake struck early on Monday as young and old slept in their beds. Twelve hours later, a second quake of magnitude 7.6 hit the same region.
More than 17,000 people have died in places like Antakya, Gaziantep, Kahramanmaras, Diyarbakir, Idlib, Aleppo and Hama. The sheer size of the area affected, with cities hundreds of kilometres apart, reveals the power of what were two of the largest earthquakes by magnitude in the 21st century. Cities across the region are devastated, as before-and-after satellite pictures reveal.
Rescue workers initially found it difficult to access some areas because roads were damaged and airports were closed. The workers who do get through simply don’t have the numbers or the equipment to clear every collapsed building and are forced to make the horrible choice of what pile of rubble to prioritise as they listen for the faintest sound of life indicating that someone is still alive.
Even 70 hours on, people have been rescued, pulled out of the rubble, greeted by tears and cheers of joy from the crowds who have gathered. One, a newborn baby, was still attached by an umbilical cord to her dead mother. But with temperatures plummeting and time cruelly passing, the hope of finding more survivors is fading fast.
[READ: How to donate to Turkey and Syria earthquake disaster response]
In Turkey, there is growing anger from some people in the earthquake zone at what they see as a slow response by the government, but authorities say they’re doing the best they can given the extreme circumstances. Then there’s the question of whether the contractors who built the multistorey buildings that collapsed had actually followed building codes introduced after previous earthquakes.
In Syria, it has been a further calamity for a people who have faced the horrors of a war that’s lasted almost 12 years. The opposition-held northwest is no stranger to demolished buildings, a result of years of bombing by the Syrian government and Russia. But even for people in this often forgotten corner of Syria, the destruction is unprecedented. And the reality in both countries is that, buried under the rubble, there are almost certainly thousands more people who have died and have yet to be found.
[WATCH: Videos reveal extent of Turkey, Syria earthquake devastation]
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