From the WashPost: Earthquakes Destroy. People Rebuild. Cities are a form of life and they need constant care to stay strong. They didn’t get that care in Turkey.
An Excerpt: “According to The Associated Press, a Turkish government agency has acknowledged that more than half of all buildings in the country don’t meet earthquake standards.”
From the WashPost: Opinion: 3 charts show how better buildings save lives in earthquakes.
“Though it might take weeks or months to confirm the death toll across Turkey and Syria, the latest number has topped 36,000. This makes this month’s earthquake the deadliest in the region in more than a century. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said it was “not possible to be prepared for such a disaster.” Data comparing similarly seismic countries suggests otherwise. Take Chile and Japan….”
As of Monday Feb. 13, the news reports say that deaths in Turkey and Syria have reached 38,000 and are still raising. And various estimates for homeless people run as high at 5 million!
For emergency management personnel these numbers are incredible and beyond most planners expectations. It is worth taking some time to think about what it will take to cope with these outcomes.
From HSToday: PERSPECTIVE: Deadly Earthquakes in Turkey: How Endemic Corruption Worsens the Situation. The quakes were so large and shallow that they would substantially damage older buildings. However, the number of newly built yet devastated buildings is exceptionally high.
From Politico: Earthquake stuns Syria’s Aleppo even after war’s horrors. The natural disaster piled on many man-made ones.
From the Wash Post: Turkey’s earthquake death toll might be more than just a natural disaster. An excerpt: Natural disaster is one aspect of the story. Turkey’s reliance on construction-driven economic growth, cronyism and willingness to ignore its own building standards is the other. The first was unavoidable. Did the second lead to mass casualties? At the very minimum, the Turkish people will have every right to demand a thorough investigation of precisely that question.
From The Guardian, more bad news: First Thing: Turkey and Syria earthquake death toll ‘could pass 20,000’
A more optimistic take:from the Wash Post: 5 lessons from past earthquakes to navigate Turkey’s tragedy
From CNN, a series of short clips from early report of the Turkey Earthquakes on 2/6. Among other things it provides an interesting account of the powerful aftershocks.
For the best and most current technical info, go this USGS site.
I expect many more postings as the recovery period begins.
From the Wash Post: For some, life after Ian is ‘more tragic than the hurricane itself.’
This is a lengthy and deeply troubling account of the many problems ongoing in the area of FL impacted by Hurricane Ian.
From HSToday:
FEMA simplified its Individual Assistance application process, leading to over 100,000 survivors receiving assistance who would have previously been ineligible.
Recovery Diva 