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BS: Earthquake-Turkey and Syria, Feb 2023

09 Feb 23 - 07:05 PM (#4164730)
Subject: BS: Earthquake
From: Steve Shaw

I have no words for the suffering of the people in the earthquake zone in south-eastern Türkiye and the north-western part of Syria. I think that the BBC reporting from the affected area has been beyond brilliant. I'd give a special mention to Anna Foster, who, to begin with, was reporting via nothing more than a dodgy mobile phone connection with just a single companion to help her out (things have now improved).

The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), which represents fifteen UK charities, has launched its appeal. All the money raised will go to aid for the earthquake zone. It's possible to add gift aid to your donation (which adds 25% to your donation). The government has said that they will match donations, pound-for-pound, up to £5 million. Well I think that's pathetic. I'd like to know why they've put on that limit. Why not match our donations pound for pound, with no limit?


09 Feb 23 - 08:44 PM (#4164737)
Subject: RE: BS: Earthquake
From: Stilly River Sage

Be glad it is matched at all. I've never heard of a US campaign such as that one.

The death count is rising rapidly - 21,000 on the news this evening, and they're only beginning to approach some of the pancaked buildings that would have been full of sleeping people at the time of the quakes (4:17am local time). Earth "quake" hardly seems to cover it. And looking for a better word than "disaster" - synonyms offered by a Thesaurus website include: calamity, catastrophe, collapse, crash, debacle, defeat, emergency, failure, fiasco, flood, harm, hazard, holocaust, mishap, setback, tragedy, woe. Totally inadequate. I think one must turn to literature to characterise it. If this was one of Shakespeare's plays, it would be Titus Andronicus, the bloodiest of them all.

"O, could our mourning ease thy misery!"


10 Feb 23 - 04:54 AM (#4164754)
Subject: RE: BS: Earthquake
From: Jack Campin

From an FB friend with connections in Adiyaman, and who is just going there: people trapped in the collapsed buildings have been eaten by wolves.

Ways to help, both in Turkey and Syria:

Global Citizen list


10 Feb 23 - 03:39 PM (#4164799)
Subject: RE: BS: Earthquake
From: Mrrzy

Excellent earthquake data here.

I feel awful in the same way as after the Boxing Day tsunami, helplessly watching the death toll rise.


10 Feb 23 - 09:43 PM (#4164816)
Subject: RE: BS: Earthquake
From: Rapparee

Check Anne Lister's FB. She's hosting a Zoom concert next weekend, the proceeds of which are going to earthquake relieve.


11 Feb 23 - 05:34 PM (#4164891)
Subject: RE: BS: Earthquake
From: robomatic

We are getting a lot of BBC radio coverage because they broadcast BBC through the night on public radio in Anchorage. I am constantly thinking of building structural standards, which may have been honored more in the breach in the affected areas. Twice in the past two weeks I've been in large concrete parking garages and they've given me the creeps, except that I suspect they've been built to standards, just don't know when.


12 Feb 23 - 07:51 PM (#4165000)
Subject: RE: BS: Earthquake
From: robomatic

Freshen Up your earthquake knowledge.( Just don't sue anyone )


12 Feb 23 - 08:53 PM (#4165007)
Subject: RE: BS: Earthquake
From: Donuel

5 million have lost their homes. The cold is their primary threat to survival.


13 Feb 23 - 12:26 PM (#4165093)
Subject: RE: BS: Earthquake
From: leeneia

Hi, robomatic. I've been watching YouTubes, and it seems obvious that many builders ignored earthquake-safety codes while government did nothing. And it's not just me. There are videos showing Turkish commentators saying the same.

When you see video after video where a building seems to collapse instantaneously under its own weight while neighboring buildings stand firm, it seems likely that "something was rotten in Denmark." As far as I can tell, there is no active quaking occurring when such buildings collapse.


13 Feb 23 - 01:58 PM (#4165101)
Subject: RE: BS: Earthquake
From: Stilly River Sage

A huge canyon opened up in the region - there is a TikTok video of a drone flying over what looks like an olive orchard that has dirt roads and tire marks that now dindle off the edges of the opening.


16 Feb 23 - 01:24 PM (#4165331)
Subject: RE: BS: Earthquake
From: leeneia

This happened near the town of Tepehan in Turkey. There are YouTube videos of it, and if you look at the satellite view of Tepehan on Google Maps, you see the landscape from before the quake. It's a tumultuous-looking place.

The DH, who is a geologist, thinks the canyon is a graben, a down-dropped block in a rift zone.   The big picture is that Africa and Arabia are being pushed northeastward into Europe, and there is subduction in the eastern Mediterranean area. Google "map of earth's plates with arrows showing movement."


17 Feb 23 - 10:04 AM (#4165399)
Subject: RE: BS: Earthquake
From: Donuel

The Turkish government turned off Twitter for reasons of their own.
Sadly it was Twitter that trapped survivors tried to use to alert rescuers.