...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire...
and Syria on the 6 February has passed 41,000 and continues to rise.
The figure comes over a week after the deadly earthquake which the World Health Organisation
...Kind of like the Center for Disease Control only run by the UN, with about the results you'd expectt...
described as the worst natural disaster in 100 years.
Despite passing the ’golden window’ of 72 hours, the period in which rescuers have the best chance of finding survivors, there are still stories of babies, children and adults being pulled from the rubble alive.
TURKEY
On Tuesday,
...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than there are in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really most important...announced that more than 35,000 people died in the earthquake in Turkey, making it the deadliest disaster since the country’s founding 100 years ago. Previously the grisly record was held by the 1939 Erzincan earthquake which killed 33,000 people.
Erdogan visited survivors in hospital, and has vowed to replace the thousands of homes that were destroyed in ten regions within a year, a promise which seems unlikely given the scale of the rubble still to be searched and cleared.
Presidential and parliamentary elections had been planned in Turkey for the 14 May, but given the fallout from the earthquake, there is speculation they will be delayed by the President.
Survivors of the earthquake have been left homeless and struggling to meet basic needs, like finding clothing, shelter and food in the bitter cold. The emotional toll of such a large scale tragedy is also weighing on survivors, many of whom have lost family members and friends.
SYRIA
In Syria, the situation is particularly desperate. Over a decade long civil war has complicated relief efforts, alongside the winter conditions and an ongoing cholera outbreak.
Prior to the earthquake in early 2023, the UN found that some 15.3 million people in Syria were deemed to require humanitarian assistance, an all-time high for the country which is entering its 12th year since hostilities started.
Sanctions imposed on the country have limited the routes into the country for aid workers and supplies, and delays in temporarily lifting them has resulted in a slow response to a situation where time is of the essence.
On Tuesday, relief finally reached rebel-held Syria, which has been disproportionately affected compared to government-controlled areas, through a newly-opened crossing into the north west of the country.
As of 12 February, in Syria at least 5,791 people have reportedly been killed, 4,377 of them in north-west Syria with many still trapped under the rubble.
The UN launched a flash appeal yesterday for more than $397 million in order to provide "assistance to the 4.9 million people with the most urgent humanitarian needs over the next 3 months".
They estimate that 8.8 million people have been affected by the earthquake in Syria, almost 40 per cent of the population.
Earthquake Outcome On Kurdish Areas Of Aleppo
[NPASyria] The councils of the Shahba exclave, as well as that of the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh neighborhoods of Aleppo, both of whom are linked to the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), have released the latest figures related to the Feb. 6 earthquake.
SHEIKH MAQSOUD AND ASHRAFIYEH
The Kurdish-majority Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh neighborhoods lie in northern city and have been under an autonomous administration since 2012. Sheikh Maqsoud was established by Kurdish migrant workers in the 1970s; most of its buildings were constructed informally.
Around 100.000 people live across both neighborhoods, including many residents of Afrin displaced by
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...’s 2018 invasion of the region. Most of the neighborhood is densely-packed with multi-story residential buildings. A rough estimate puts the total number of buildings at around 22.000.
According to a statement by the Council of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh, six people were killed and around 100 were maimed by the earthquake. The injuries range from light to severe, and include victims in need of psychological counseling.
No buildings collapsed entirely; those killed or injured were struck by falling debris, a source inside the city tells North Press.
Yet buildings in Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh are at constant risk of collapsing due to years of war and haphazard construction. Two weeks before the Feb. 6 earthquake, a building in Sheikh Maqsoud caved in, killing 16 people and wounding two.
The neighborhoods’ Council says 150 buildings are at risk of completely or partially collapsing. This figure is not final, as civil engineers continue to assess the damage.
Over 60.000 people have been displaced. The majority — roughly 50.000 — have found shelter in single-story houses within the neighborhood. A further 10.000 were put up in tents and other temporary housing. 3.000 families have made their way to the Shahba region, 10 km north of Aleppo. "The number is likely to increase as more buildings which were damaged during the earthquake will collapse," the Council said.
The Council further explained that the neighborhoods need "50.000 food parcels, 25.000 medical kits and blankets for 50.000 people, in addition to equipment for the Civil Defense teams, which consist of 30 people, who do not have the necessary machinery".
The Council’s statement further stressed the need for all kinds of basic medication, especially those to treat diabetes and high blood pressure, as well as IV bags, antibiotics, and medical equipment needed to treat bone fractures.
Until Feb. 15, the Syrian government prevented supplies sent by the AANES from reaching the neighborhoods. An exclusive source at the al-Tayha internal border crossing, west of Manbij, told North Press that the Syrian government demanded 40% of a fuel and aid convoy headed to the AANES exclaves in the northwest on Tuesday.
SHAHBA
The Shahba region (Aleppo northern countryside) was annexed to the Kurdish-majority Afrin canton in 2016. Most of the current-day residents of the region are IDPs from Afrin who escaped Turkey’s invasion of the region. The total population of Shahba is unknown, but is estimated at around 80.000.
Mustafa Rashid, an Official at the Autonomous Administration’s Planning Office for Shahba, told North Press that 340 houses were damaged by the earthquake. Over 40 houses have become uninhabitable.
Shahba harbors no large urban centers; most of its residential units are single-story houses. An additional 7.243 IDPs live in tents across five camps. Thus, no residents were killed or injured by the earthquake.
More than 3.500 Aleppine families have arrived in the region, the official said, most from Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh.
The local administration has placed them in the camps — two families to a tent. "Some have spent days and nights inside their cars and others share housing with their relatives," Rashid said, "all of them face harsh winter conditions. They are in need of blankets and other winter supplies."
"We cannot provide anything for them but bread," he added.
Shahba has been under a Syrian government siege for months. Even before the earthquake struck, the region was short on basic supplies, such as fuel, food, and medicine. Shahba residents have spent much of this year’s winter in the dark, as fuel to power generators has been unavailable.
Rashid added that no government aid has made it to the region, and that opposition factions in
"We call on the international community to open crossings and reactivate humanitarian organizations to provide aid for the earthquake-affected families," the official said.
GOVERNMENT-HELD ALEPPO
North Press also contacted a civil engineer in the government-held parts of Aleppo city. According to the engineer, who preferred to remain anonymous, 60 buildings collapsed in government-held areas as a result of the earthquake. 51 more buildings were demolished by the Aleppo Municipality, as they were classified as "high-risk".
In total, about 2.000 buildings were damaged. The UN estimated that Aleppo had 720.000 housing units in 2011, 64% of which were multi-story buildings. Many have been damaged by war. Around 1.6 million people live in the city today.
Like Sheikh Maqsoud, government-held Aleppo has been plagued by unsafe construction even before Feb. 6 earthquake, particularly in the war-torn eastern part of the city. Days before the earthquake, two people were buried alive, one of whom was killed, when a building collapsed in the al-Fardos neighborhood.