The consequences of the earthquake in the Middle East, in satellite view

The death toll in the earthquake that devastated Turkey and Syria continues to rise.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
14 February 2023 Tuesday 03:35
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The consequences of the earthquake in the Middle East, in satellite view

The death toll in the earthquake that devastated Turkey and Syria continues to rise. And it will continue to do so. For the moment, the Turkish authorities have confirmed the death of 18,991 people, while the Syrians already add 3,384. A total of 22,375, a figure that will skyrocket when the rescue teams reach the devastated areas —as the satellite images show— where access has not yet been possible.

The photographs captured from space are devastating: destroyed silos, buildings displaced several meters, rubble and destruction. The contrast between before and after the catastrophe is seen very clearly from this distant point of view, as is the case in the following image, in which the fissure that caused the movement of the fault can even be distinguished:

The President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has stressed that some 75,000 people have been brought to safety despite the "setbacks" suffered by the rescue teams. For its part, the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), under the Ministry of the Interior, has detailed that the number of injured now stands at 74,242, according to the Turkish state news agency, Anatolia.

The level of destruction is not as evident in images of rural areas although, as can be seen in the image below, the displacement of agricultural deposits can be observed

Many urban areas have been completely devastated, turning family buildings into pure rubble. In Kahramanmaras, the football stadium has been turned into a small makeshift refugee camp hosting thousands of earthquake victims.

As the work of the emergency services continues, the Turkish authorities have vowed to take action against negligent housing construction, as poor construction is suspected to have played a role in the high number of deaths.

The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has reported that a total of 97 countries have offered assistance and that search and rescue teams from another 61 are involved in clearing tasks in the affected areas. In total, on the ground there are some 6,810 people collaborating from other nations.

Faced with this situation, the United Nations has already sent a first convoy of humanitarian aid to Syria through the Bab al Hawa border crossing, in the northwest of the country. This included up to six trucks with relief supplies and sheds, although Guterres stressed that "more help is on the way."