A devastating magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck the Turkish province of Kahramanmaras, approximately 23 kilometres east of Nurdagi in the Gaziantep province near the Syrian border on Monday, February 6, 2023, followed by a 7.5 magnitude aftershock nine hours later.
This earthquake hit the border region between Turkey and Syria, home to more than 13.5 million people, early Monday morning. With morgues and cemeteries overwhelmed, bodies lay wrapped in blankets, rugs and tarps in the streets of some cities.
After Monday’s devastating quakes and aftershocks, search teams from nearly 30 countries and aid pledges poured in. Also, India launched Operation Dost to extend assistance to Turkey and Syria, with toppled buildings and flattened cities.
So far, India has sent medical supplies, medics and search-and-rescue teams to dig through the rubble and find survivors. The toll has crossed over 17,100 in both Turkey and Syria and is expected to rise further. Look at images of how the Indian Army’s Operation Dost is saving thousands of lives in quake-hit Turkey and Syria.
As part of “Operation Dost,” India is deploying a field hospital, supplies, and rescue personnel to the earthquake-stricken countries of Turkey and Syria.
Indian army and NDRF are providing rescue and relief assistance in earthquake-hit Turkey.
Visuals of the Indian army’s relief operations have been widely shared.
The death toll has crossed the 20,000 mark, with many still feared to be trapped under rubble.
The Indian Army shared the image of the two women with the caption, “We Care”, perfectly encapsulating how quickly India acted to support its ‘Dost’ Turkey.
India has also sent relief materials aboard a C-130J aircraft of the Indian Air Force to Syria.
Turkey hadn’t experienced an earthquake of this size since 33,000 people died in the eastern region of Erzincan in 1939.
Turkey earthquake, making it the deadliest since a magnitude 9.0 quake off the coast of Japan in March 2011, triggered a tsunami, killing nearly 20,000.
Nearly all of Turkey is very seismically active, so the country is no stranger to devastating earthquakes — a 7.4 magnitude temblor that struck near Istanbul in 1999 killed an estimated 18,000 people.
