Two major earthquakes hit Turkey, Syria

commandlinegamer · 6th February 2023, 05:45 AM

Over a thousand dead after a quake early Monday morning and another a few hours later, levelling apartment blocks and other buildings, the shock felt across several countries.

https://www.dailysabah.com/turkey/re...s-turkiye/news

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/64533954

Thousands more injured, with heavy rain and snow forecast for some of those areas affected potentially severely affecting rescue attempts.

Horrific scenes.

carlosy · 6th February 2023, 06:55 AM

Well, seems like at least someone got lucky...

Quote:

Eerie Prediction About Turkey Earthquake Goes Viral

...

Hoogerbeets' Twitter bio says he is a researcher with the Solar System Geometry Survey, which on its website describes itself as a research institute "for monitoring geometry between celestial bodies related to seismic activity."

https://www.newsweek.com/scientific-...-viral-1779161

https://twitter.com/ssgeos

plague311 · 6th February 2023, 03:21 PM

Articles are now putting the number of dead in the mid-2000s with rumors of the death toll reaching 10,000+

dudalb · 6th February 2023, 05:43 PM

Something tells me the Assad regime is going to be totally inept in trying to handle this situation in Syria.

alfaniner · 6th February 2023, 06:33 PM

The lead on one show went with a video of a man crying and holding a dead baby where only the baby's face was pixillated. Bastards.

Well, it is ratings month...

bruto · 7th February 2023, 11:56 AM

It sounds as if this is going to be truly awful. I seem to recall that there are a couple of members of these forums from that region. Emre? Others? Hope you're doing all right.

I have a sort of general social question here, which maybe someone from the region can answer.

I recently visited Egypt and Jordan, and in both these countries, where the social traditions are largely Arabic, it's the custom for families to own a home, which is added to vertically as the family grows through marriage.

You see this especially in Egypt, where the nearly-universal architectural style is a post-and-beam concrete skeleton, which appears unfinished, because the posts extend above the last completed level, with rebars exposed. This makes it fairly easy to add a storey, into which a recently married family member can start a household.

That's a cozy setup and obviously works nicely for family solidarity, intergenerational child care, and so forth, but it also means that in a terrible event like these earthquakes, the collapse of a building can wipe out a whole family at once.

My question is mainly whether this tradition exists in Turkey.

mgidm86 · 7th February 2023, 02:08 PM

7,000 people dead. Freezing weather. Truly horrific I don't know what else to say.

bruto · 7th February 2023, 02:36 PM

Originally Posted by mgidm86

7,000 people dead. Freezing weather. Truly horrific I don't know what else to say.

Yes, and from what I've heard so far, it's going to be worse and worse. It appears that a great many structures collapsed vertically, a very poor prospect for survivors.

On the slight bright side, it seems that groups ordinarily at odds are uniting in aid, though I suppose it's too much to hope that they stop and think about what that means.

dudalb · 7th February 2023, 04:22 PM

Originally Posted by bruto

Yes, and from what I've heard so far, it's going to be worse and worse. It appears that a great many structures collapsed vertically, a very poor prospect for survivors.

On the slight bright side, it seems that groups ordinarily at odds are uniting in aid, though I suppose it's too much to hope that they stop and think about what that means.

Does that include Assad, the guy who used nerve gas on his own people?

Ryokan · 7th February 2023, 05:34 PM

I have an employee from Syria. The area hit in Turkey has a lot of Syrian refugees, including his parents and a lot of his family. All his family members lost their houses and have to live in tents on the streets. Since they are Syrian citizens, they're not allowed to leave the area and go to better places within Turkey. None of his family members are dead, but so far four of his friends are confirmed dead.

It's a very sad situation, hitting some of the most vulnerable people in the world.

commandlinegamer · 8th February 2023, 03:14 AM

Syria hasn't featured much in the news in the last couple of years, pandemic and Ukraine filling much of the airtime.

There was a map displayed of some of the various groups on the news I saw last night. It appears the Assad regime holds most of the country, but for some northern regions which are the last rebel holdouts, included those backed by Turkey, so it's a right mess.

A natural disaster is the last thing that country needed after more than a decade of war and with so many displayed people in that region already, I can see it getting much worse before there's any improvement.

Darat · 8th February 2023, 04:22 AM

Official death toll is now over 9000. I suspect that there will also be many survivors of the quake who will die because of theterrible conditions and lack of relief.

ETA: was checking the BBC site for news:

Quote:

Death toll rises to more than 11,200
We now believe more than 11,200 people have died following a massive earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on Monday.

Turkish officials say 8,574 people have died in the country.

It's difficult to get figures from Syria, but we understand the number of confirmed deaths so far is 2,662.

dudalb · 8th February 2023, 02:43 PM

Originally Posted by commandlinegamer

Syria hasn't featured much in the news in the last couple of years, pandemic and Ukraine filling much of the airtime.

There was a map displayed of some of the various groups on the news I saw last night. It appears the Assad regime holds most of the country, but for some northern regions which are the last rebel holdouts, included those backed by Turkey, so it's a right mess.

A natural disaster is the last thing that country needed after more than a decade of war and with so many displayed people in that region already, I can see it getting much worse before there's any improvement.

Thinks in Syria will not improve until Assad is gone.

dudalb · 9th February 2023, 04:56 PM

Death toll over 20'000.
Erdogan is asking the Turkish people to be pateint. Already rumors he will use the quake as an excuse for cancelling the up coming elections.

commandlinegamer · 10th February 2023, 04:00 AM

Questions though starting to be asked about what was done with an earthquake levy introduced after the massive quake in 1999, where the money was spent.

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/02/08/m...ntl/index.html

dudalb · 10th February 2023, 02:23 PM

Originally Posted by commandlinegamer

Questions though starting to be asked about what was done with an earthquake levy introduced after the massive quake in 1999, where the money was spent.

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/02/08/m...ntl/index.html

SOmething tells me some of those asking the questions will vanish......

Assad using the Earthquake to attack the West.

JoeMorgue · 10th February 2023, 02:24 PM

It's okay because it's the West's fault, as usual.

Syrian President al-Assad criticizes Western countries in first televised comments since Monday's earthquake

Quote:

Assad told reporters that Western countries “have no regard for the human condition.” This comment is in line with statements heard from government officials and Syria’s state-run media, who have pinned the lack of humanitarian aid and hindered rescue equipment on US and EU sanctions.

https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-...f800b6033fc97a

Craig4 · 11th February 2023, 12:53 AM

Originally Posted by dudalb

Death toll over 20'000.
Erdogan is asking the Turkish people to be pateint. Already rumors he will use the quake as an excuse for cancelling the up coming elections.

He should be worried. After the 1999 Turkey established a fund for earthquakes. Homeowners in Turkey pay an earthquake tax to set aside money in the event of a major quake.

In 2020, the wannabe Padasha said, "That money was spent where it needed to be spent. [i] don’t feel the need to explain myself to anybody any further" when asked about why there wasn't money in the fund.

This may be what brings the resurgent Ottoman Emperor down.

shemp · 14th February 2023, 08:27 AM

Videos show Turkey's Erdogan boasted letting builders avoid earthquake codes

Quote:

ISTANBUL — As Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan struggles to defend his response to last Monday's devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake, videos from a few years back have emerged showing him hailing some of the housing projects that crumbled, killing thousands of people.

Critics say contractors were allowed to skip crucial safety regulations, increasing their profits but putting residents at risk.

The videos have fueled public outrage over slow efforts to help residents in the aftermath of the massive earthquake — the world's deadliest in over a decade — that killed more than 35,000 people in Turkey and neighboring Syria, and left many injured and without a home, food or heating in the middle of winter.

In one video, taken during a campaign stop ahead of Turkey's March 2019 local elections, Erdogan listed some of his government's top achievements — including new housing for the city of Kahramanmaras, also known as Maras, near the epicenter of last week's quake.

"We solved the problem of 144,156 citizens of Maras with zoning amnesty," Erdogan said, using his term for the construction amnesties handed out to allow contractors to ignore the safety codes that had been put on the books specifically to make apartment blocks, houses and office buildings more resistant to earthquakes.

Engineers and architects say the lack of safety features designed to absorb the shock of earthquakes likely contributed to the soaring death toll.

All fakes, of course, I'm sure!

dudalb · 14th February 2023, 04:09 PM

I would bet a reasonable amoun of money that Erdogan will find a way to cancel the up coming elections.

Gulliver Foyle · 15th February 2023, 06:30 AM

Originally Posted by dudalb

I would bet a reasonable amoun of money that Erdogan will find a way to cancel the up coming elections.

All elections. He wants to be called Sultan after all.

dudalb · 16th February 2023, 02:56 PM

Originally Posted by Gulliver Foyle

All elections. He wants to be called Sultan after all.

That sound you hear is Kamel Attaturk turning over in his grave.

Gulliver Foyle · 16th February 2023, 03:23 PM

Originally Posted by dudalb

That sound you hear is Kamel Attaturk turning over in his grave.

Spinning rapidly.

6th February 2023, 05:45 AM	#1
commandlinegamer Philosopher Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Mazes of Menace Posts: 9,302	Two major earthquakes hit Turkey, Syria Over a thousand dead after a quake early Monday morning and another a few hours later, levelling apartment blocks and other buildings, the shock felt across several countries. https://www.dailysabah.com/turkey/re...s-turkiye/news https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/64533954 Thousands more injured, with heavy rain and snow forecast for some of those areas affected potentially severely affecting rescue attempts. Horrific scenes.
	__________________ He bade me take any rug in the house. Last edited by commandlinegamer; 6th February 2023 at 05:48 AM.

6th February 2023, 06:55 AM	#2
carlosy Muse Join Date: Jun 2011 Posts: 556	Well, seems like at least someone got lucky... Quote: Eerie Prediction About Turkey Earthquake Goes Viral ... Hoogerbeets' Twitter bio says he is a researcher with the Solar System Geometry Survey, which on its website describes itself as a research institute "for monitoring geometry between celestial bodies related to seismic activity." https://www.newsweek.com/scientific-...-viral-1779161 https://twitter.com/ssgeos
carlosy Muse Join Date: Jun 2011 Posts: 556

6th February 2023, 03:21 PM	#3
plague311 Great minds think... Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: North Dakota Posts: 13,789	Articles are now putting the number of dead in the mid-2000s with rumors of the death toll reaching 10,000+
	__________________ “There are times when the mind is dealt such a blow it hides itself in insanity. While this may not seem beneficial, it is. There are times when reality is nothing but pain, and to escape that pain the mind must leave reality behind.” - Patrick Rothfuss

6th February 2023, 05:43 PM	#4
dudalb Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Sacramento Posts: 57,831	Something tells me the Assad regime is going to be totally inept in trying to handle this situation in Syria.
	__________________ Pacifism is a shifty doctrine under which a man accepts the benefits of the social group without being willing to pay - and claims a halo for his dishonesty. Robert Heinlein.

6th February 2023, 06:33 PM	#5
alfaniner Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Sorth Dakonsin Posts: 27,605	The lead on one show went with a video of a man crying and holding a dead baby where only the baby's face was pixillated. Bastards. Well, it is ratings month...
	__________________ Science is self-correcting. Woo is self-contradicting.

7th February 2023, 11:56 AM	#6
bruto Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Way way north of Diddy Wah Diddy Posts: 34,284	It sounds as if this is going to be truly awful. I seem to recall that there are a couple of members of these forums from that region. Emre? Others? Hope you're doing all right. I have a sort of general social question here, which maybe someone from the region can answer. I recently visited Egypt and Jordan, and in both these countries, where the social traditions are largely Arabic, it's the custom for families to own a home, which is added to vertically as the family grows through marriage. You see this especially in Egypt, where the nearly-universal architectural style is a post-and-beam concrete skeleton, which appears unfinished, because the posts extend above the last completed level, with rebars exposed. This makes it fairly easy to add a storey, into which a recently married family member can start a household. That's a cozy setup and obviously works nicely for family solidarity, intergenerational child care, and so forth, but it also means that in a terrible event like these earthquakes, the collapse of a building can wipe out a whole family at once. My question is mainly whether this tradition exists in Turkey.
	__________________ Like many humorless and indignant people, he is hard on everybody but himself, and does not perceive it when he fails his own ideal (Molière) A pedant is a man who studies a vacuum through instruments that allow him to draw cross-sections of the details (John Ciardi)

7th February 2023, 02:08 PM	#7
mgidm86 Philosopher Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 8,624	7,000 people dead. Freezing weather. Truly horrific I don't know what else to say.
mgidm86 Philosopher Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 8,624

7th February 2023, 02:36 PM	#8
bruto Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Way way north of Diddy Wah Diddy Posts: 34,284	Originally Posted by mgidm86 7,000 people dead. Freezing weather. Truly horrific I don't know what else to say. Yes, and from what I've heard so far, it's going to be worse and worse. It appears that a great many structures collapsed vertically, a very poor prospect for survivors. On the slight bright side, it seems that groups ordinarily at odds are uniting in aid, though I suppose it's too much to hope that they stop and think about what that means.
	__________________ Like many humorless and indignant people, he is hard on everybody but himself, and does not perceive it when he fails his own ideal (Molière) A pedant is a man who studies a vacuum through instruments that allow him to draw cross-sections of the details (John Ciardi)

7th February 2023, 04:22 PM	#9
dudalb Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Sacramento Posts: 57,831	Originally Posted by bruto Yes, and from what I've heard so far, it's going to be worse and worse. It appears that a great many structures collapsed vertically, a very poor prospect for survivors. On the slight bright side, it seems that groups ordinarily at odds are uniting in aid, though I suppose it's too much to hope that they stop and think about what that means. Does that include Assad, the guy who used nerve gas on his own people?
	__________________ Pacifism is a shifty doctrine under which a man accepts the benefits of the social group without being willing to pay - and claims a halo for his dishonesty. Robert Heinlein.

7th February 2023, 05:34 PM	#10
Ryokan Insert something funny here Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Norway Posts: 10,764	I have an employee from Syria. The area hit in Turkey has a lot of Syrian refugees, including his parents and a lot of his family. All his family members lost their houses and have to live in tents on the streets. Since they are Syrian citizens, they're not allowed to leave the area and go to better places within Turkey. None of his family members are dead, but so far four of his friends are confirmed dead. It's a very sad situation, hitting some of the most vulnerable people in the world.

8th February 2023, 03:14 AM	#11
commandlinegamer Philosopher Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Mazes of Menace Posts: 9,302	Syria hasn't featured much in the news in the last couple of years, pandemic and Ukraine filling much of the airtime. There was a map displayed of some of the various groups on the news I saw last night. It appears the Assad regime holds most of the country, but for some northern regions which are the last rebel holdouts, included those backed by Turkey, so it's a right mess. A natural disaster is the last thing that country needed after more than a decade of war and with so many displayed people in that region already, I can see it getting much worse before there's any improvement.
	__________________ He bade me take any rug in the house. Last edited by commandlinegamer; 8th February 2023 at 03:27 AM.

8th February 2023, 04:22 AM	#12
Darat Lackey Administrator Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: South East, UK Posts: 108,195	Official death toll is now over 9000. I suspect that there will also be many survivors of the quake who will die because of theterrible conditions and lack of relief. ETA: was checking the BBC site for news: Quote: Death toll rises to more than 11,200 We now believe more than 11,200 people have died following a massive earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on Monday. Turkish officials say 8,574 people have died in the country. It's difficult to get figures from Syria, but we understand the number of confirmed deaths so far is 2,662.
	__________________ I wish I knew how to quit you Last edited by Darat; 8th February 2023 at 04:26 AM.

8th February 2023, 02:43 PM	#13
dudalb Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Sacramento Posts: 57,831	Originally Posted by commandlinegamer Syria hasn't featured much in the news in the last couple of years, pandemic and Ukraine filling much of the airtime. There was a map displayed of some of the various groups on the news I saw last night. It appears the Assad regime holds most of the country, but for some northern regions which are the last rebel holdouts, included those backed by Turkey, so it's a right mess. A natural disaster is the last thing that country needed after more than a decade of war and with so many displayed people in that region already, I can see it getting much worse before there's any improvement. Thinks in Syria will not improve until Assad is gone.
	__________________ Pacifism is a shifty doctrine under which a man accepts the benefits of the social group without being willing to pay - and claims a halo for his dishonesty. Robert Heinlein.

9th February 2023, 04:56 PM	#14
dudalb Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Sacramento Posts: 57,831	Death toll over 20'000. Erdogan is asking the Turkish people to be pateint. Already rumors he will use the quake as an excuse for cancelling the up coming elections.
	__________________ Pacifism is a shifty doctrine under which a man accepts the benefits of the social group without being willing to pay - and claims a halo for his dishonesty. Robert Heinlein.

10th February 2023, 04:00 AM	#15
commandlinegamer Philosopher Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Mazes of Menace Posts: 9,302	Questions though starting to be asked about what was done with an earthquake levy introduced after the massive quake in 1999, where the money was spent. https://edition.cnn.com/2023/02/08/m...ntl/index.html
	__________________ He bade me take any rug in the house.

10th February 2023, 02:23 PM	#16
dudalb Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Sacramento Posts: 57,831	Originally Posted by commandlinegamer Questions though starting to be asked about what was done with an earthquake levy introduced after the massive quake in 1999, where the money was spent. https://edition.cnn.com/2023/02/08/m...ntl/index.html SOmething tells me some of those asking the questions will vanish...... Assad using the Earthquake to attack the West.
	__________________ Pacifism is a shifty doctrine under which a man accepts the benefits of the social group without being willing to pay - and claims a halo for his dishonesty. Robert Heinlein.

10th February 2023, 02:24 PM	#17
JoeMorgue Self Employed Remittance Man Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Florida Posts: 43,124	It's okay because it's the West's fault, as usual. Syrian President al-Assad criticizes Western countries in first televised comments since Monday's earthquake Quote: Assad told reporters that Western countries “have no regard for the human condition.” This comment is in line with statements heard from government officials and Syria’s state-run media, who have pinned the lack of humanitarian aid and hindered rescue equipment on US and EU sanctions. https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-...f800b6033fc97a
	__________________ "If everyone in the room says water is wet and I say it's dry that makes me smart because at least I'm thinking for myself!" - The Proudly Wrong.

11th February 2023, 12:53 AM	#18
Craig4 Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: I live in a swamp Posts: 26,778	Originally Posted by dudalb Death toll over 20'000. Erdogan is asking the Turkish people to be pateint. Already rumors he will use the quake as an excuse for cancelling the up coming elections. He should be worried. After the 1999 Turkey established a fund for earthquakes. Homeowners in Turkey pay an earthquake tax to set aside money in the event of a major quake. In 2020, the wannabe Padasha said, "That money was spent where it needed to be spent. [i] don’t feel the need to explain myself to anybody any further" when asked about why there wasn't money in the fund. This may be what brings the resurgent Ottoman Emperor down.
	__________________ Fight like a Ukrainian.

14th February 2023, 08:27 AM	#19
shemp a flimsy character...perfidious and despised Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Out back preparing the bunker for the next Civil War Posts: 53,840	Videos show Turkey's Erdogan boasted letting builders avoid earthquake codes Quote: ISTANBUL — As Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan struggles to defend his response to last Monday's devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake, videos from a few years back have emerged showing him hailing some of the housing projects that crumbled, killing thousands of people. Critics say contractors were allowed to skip crucial safety regulations, increasing their profits but putting residents at risk. The videos have fueled public outrage over slow efforts to help residents in the aftermath of the massive earthquake — the world's deadliest in over a decade — that killed more than 35,000 people in Turkey and neighboring Syria, and left many injured and without a home, food or heating in the middle of winter. In one video, taken during a campaign stop ahead of Turkey's March 2019 local elections, Erdogan listed some of his government's top achievements — including new housing for the city of Kahramanmaras, also known as Maras, near the epicenter of last week's quake. "We solved the problem of 144,156 citizens of Maras with zoning amnesty," Erdogan said, using his term for the construction amnesties handed out to allow contractors to ignore the safety codes that had been put on the books specifically to make apartment blocks, houses and office buildings more resistant to earthquakes. Engineers and architects say the lack of safety features designed to absorb the shock of earthquakes likely contributed to the soaring death toll. All fakes, of course, I'm sure!
	__________________ "Yes, I'll be around for many more centuries. You, meanwhile, will have long ago been turned into value dog food, despite your express wishes to the contrary." -- JihadJane

14th February 2023, 04:09 PM	#20
dudalb Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Sacramento Posts: 57,831	I would bet a reasonable amoun of money that Erdogan will find a way to cancel the up coming elections.
	__________________ Pacifism is a shifty doctrine under which a man accepts the benefits of the social group without being willing to pay - and claims a halo for his dishonesty. Robert Heinlein.

15th February 2023, 06:30 AM	#21
Gulliver Foyle Graduate Poster Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: Cork baaaiii Posts: 1,317	Originally Posted by dudalb I would bet a reasonable amoun of money that Erdogan will find a way to cancel the up coming elections. All elections. He wants to be called Sultan after all.

16th February 2023, 02:56 PM	#22
dudalb Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Sacramento Posts: 57,831	Originally Posted by Gulliver Foyle All elections. He wants to be called Sultan after all. That sound you hear is Kamel Attaturk turning over in his grave.
	__________________ Pacifism is a shifty doctrine under which a man accepts the benefits of the social group without being willing to pay - and claims a halo for his dishonesty. Robert Heinlein.

16th February 2023, 03:23 PM	#23
Gulliver Foyle Graduate Poster Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: Cork baaaiii Posts: 1,317	Originally Posted by dudalb That sound you hear is Kamel Attaturk turning over in his grave. Spinning rapidly.