On February 6 2023 a massive earthquake hit the border of Turkey and Syria resulting in serious damage to both regions. The quake was caused by a collision of the Anatolian and Arabian plates and resulted in a primary quake of 7.5 magnitudes and numerous subsequent quakes.
Across Turkey, an estimated fifty thousand buildings have been destroyed, including essential infrastructure such as hospitals, electrical grids roads, and power lines. In response to the quake, 34 counties have given financial and material aid to Turkey, including China, the US Great Britain, and Russia. Even with international humanitarian support the victims of the earthquake are struggling to get basic supplies and resources. The WHO has reported that in Turkey approximately 20 million people are in need of aid and Turkey has reported that one million Turkish citizens are complete without shelter. In response, Turkey has created an official camp zone with 300,000 tents. However, hundreds of thousands of victims are still without government-aided shelter. To cope with the lack of humanitarian resources many victims have created their own campsites in now-abandoned stadiums and sports fields. One resident of these camps claimed, “There’s nothing for us here to eat, there’s no gas, no heating system, no electricity. We don’t have money or any of our cards.”
The havoc caused by the earthquake has caused some to criticize the government and wonder if there was something that could have been done to prevent a disaster on this scale. Corruption has long been theorized to be an issue in the construction sector in Turkey, and this most recent earthquake proved that the vast majority of the country’s buildings were not up to earthquake code.
Wilmington Friends School is divided on its response to the earthquake. While some students such as Peter Connelly and Sameer Vidwans have organised a drive in the Upper School to help victims, others are unsure of how they should feel. When asked about he thought about the international response to Turkey and Syria, Ethan Weiner said, “I, honestly, I have no idea.” While people in Turkey and Syria suffer, it is our duty at WFS to wonder what can we do.
