# 7.8 Earthquake in Türkiye & Syria 02/06/2023 **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 6, 2023, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-8-earthquake-in-turkiye-syria-02-06-2023/979377 "2023-02-06T12:14:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-8-earthquake-in-turkiye-syria-02-06-2023/979377/21 "2023-02-07T21:17:20Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > I’m so sorry, I just realized I didn’t use the correct spelling for Turkiye. I will ask a mod to correct it. Interesting that Reuters used the old spelling ‘Turkey’. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-8-earthquake-in-turkiye-syria-02-06-2023/979377/22 "2023-02-07T22:51:18Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > Interesting that Reuters used the old spelling ‘Turkey’. Maybe they’re less interested in indulging Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s whims. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-8-earthquake-in-turkiye-syria-02-06-2023/979377/23 "2023-02-07T22:55:30Z")
A lot of that area in Syria has been suffering from brutal Syrian and Russian bombardment and aid is restricted. Those poor people. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-8-earthquake-in-turkiye-syria-02-06-2023/979377/24 "2023-02-07T23:07:26Z")
Well, gosh. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-8-earthquake-in-turkiye-syria-02-06-2023/979377/25 "2023-02-07T23:22:46Z")
How horrible. That’s the adding-insult-to-injury aspect of earthquakes, unlike many other natural disasters: with earthquakes, what gets you is overwhelmingly the built environment intended for your shelter, rather than the direct impacts of the natural world itself. Nature says “watch this, i’mma kill you puny little ants with your own buildings.” ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2023, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-8-earthquake-in-turkiye-syria-02-06-2023/979377/26 "2023-02-08T00:57:59Z")
Yeah, earthquakes don’t kill people - poorly constructed buildings near earthquakes kill people. Some of the photos are just shocking. Buildings pancaked, with people still in there. One photo is of a man holding his deceased 15 year old daughter’s hand, the only thing visible. It looks like she was in bed and the floor above landed on her. [Link](https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/turkey-earthquake-dad-holds-hand-29155319). ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2023, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-8-earthquake-in-turkiye-syria-02-06-2023/979377/27 "2023-02-08T02:18:32Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Yeah. They’ve counted 5,000 dead so far, but they think the actual number could reach 20,000. Buildings collapsing a day or two after the first quake, either from continued aftershocks or just simply too much damage to stand for long, is not helping at all. ---
**Author:** ![Chad\_Sudan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chad_sudan/32/4509_2.png) [@Chad\_Sudan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chad_Sudan)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2023, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-8-earthquake-in-turkiye-syria-02-06-2023/979377/28 "2023-02-11T13:14:56Z")
I’ll never understand why the army is not immediately called out to assist after a domestic mega-disaster such as this one (21,000 dead at last count, with the toll projected to double). Even if the military is not expressly designed for relief work, it has the vehicles, the gasoline, the shelter, the hospitals, the manpower… all standing by. And many stricken areas had no help at all for days. No help at all in freezing temperatures. People will die for lack of help. The BBC says the army has been sidelined [for political reasons](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64594349): “After the last major earthquake in August 1999, it was the armed forces who led the operation but the Erdogan government has sought to curb their power in Turkish society.” ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2023, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-8-earthquake-in-turkiye-syria-02-06-2023/979377/29 "2023-02-11T13:23:30Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > > [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > > > I’m so sorry, I just realized I didn’t use the correct spelling for Turkiye. I will ask a mod to correct it. > > Interesting that Reuters used the old spelling ‘Turkey’. Al Jazeera, too. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2023, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-8-earthquake-in-turkiye-syria-02-06-2023/979377/30 "2023-02-11T13:30:15Z")
And at least turkey has a government and something resembling infrastructure. In Syria, it’s hard to bring aid anywhere. > **[Northern Syria, already ravaged by war, is unable to receive aid after the...](https://www.npr.org/2023/02/11/1156305956/earthquake-survivors-in-northern-syria-already-ravaged-by-war-are-unable-to-rece)** > > In northern Syria, people already displaced by civil war are now suffering from the effects of this week's earthquake. But aid has been unable to reach them. ---
**Author:** ![3AxisCtrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/ecd19e/32.png) [@3AxisCtrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3AxisCtrl)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2023, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-8-earthquake-in-turkiye-syria-02-06-2023/979377/31 "2023-02-11T13:50:11Z")
> [@Chad\_Sudan](#): > > The BBC says the army has been sidelined [for political reasons](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64594349): Also mentioned in that BBC article: A tax enacted after the 1999 quake has raised $ billions intended for building improvement, but there are serious questions as to where these funds actually went. A 2018 amnesty allowed millions of buildings that did not meet construction codes to be deemed acceptable upon payment of a small fine. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-8-earthquake-in-turkiye-syria-02-06-2023/979377/32 "2023-02-12T03:28:02Z")
We had dinner tonight at a Turkish restaurant here in Northern Virginia. The chef told us that members of his mother’s family had died in the quake. Half a world away and yet there are still connections. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-8-earthquake-in-turkiye-syria-02-06-2023/979377/33 "2023-02-12T12:32:04Z")
Here’s [a list of places you can donate](https://www.bu.edu/articles/2023/how-you-can-help-earthquake-victims-and-families/) if you wish. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-8-earthquake-in-turkiye-syria-02-06-2023/979377/34 "2023-02-12T13:42:19Z")
Yesterday’s paper said building codes in Turkey had been greatly improved - but were poorly and inconsistently enforced. For some reason it strikes me as sad that 20k folk have died and this thread has only 33 posts over 6 days. Myself, I don’t know quite what to think other than that this is another reason to be thankful that I had the great fortune to not be born somewhere like that. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-8-earthquake-in-turkiye-syria-02-06-2023/979377/35 "2023-02-12T15:31:30Z")
There’s not a lot to say other than, “oh my God, how horrible”. 😢 ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2023, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-8-earthquake-in-turkiye-syria-02-06-2023/979377/36 "2023-02-13T12:13:39Z")
I’m hearing reports that the death toll has risen to more than 36K. The living conditions are abysmal. They are starting to arrest construction company officials. > **[Turkey earthquake: 113 arrest warrants connected to building construction](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-64615349)** > > Before the earthquake, there were amnesties for contractors who swerved regulations. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2023, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-8-earthquake-in-turkiye-syria-02-06-2023/979377/37 "2023-02-13T21:25:26Z")
I suppose it’s small and cold comfort that the hypothetical existence of robust building code law gives a good legal pretext to arrest people, if you choose not to enforce those proactively and allow illegal shit-stack high rises to get built in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2023, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-8-earthquake-in-turkiye-syria-02-06-2023/979377/38 "2023-02-13T22:39:59Z")
There is also that problem with “amnesty” where building owners paid a fine to get the government to look the other way, and then left owners to their own devices to improve earthquake readiness for their existing and out-dated buildings, which, evidently, most of them did nothing: > **[Turkey’s construction amnesty under spotlight after deadly earthquake -...](https://www.turkishminute.com/2023/02/13/turkey-construction-amnesty-under-spotlight-dead-earthquake/)** > > As Turkey attempts to deal with the devastation caused by a magnitude 7.8 earthquake in the south of the country on Feb. 6, questions are being raised about actions that might have worsened the effects of the disaster, in particular a so-called... _Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) pushed ahead with legislation on a construction amnesty, under which previously illegal buildings were approved without requiring that they comply with an updated building code, before the presidential and parliamentary elections of 2018 in a move apparently intended to woo voters._ _A total of 438,000 property owners benefited from the legislation and had their buildings approved by paying a fine without the need to conform to the building code, putting the responsibility for earthquake readiness on the property owners._ I guess that’s one way to make a problem go away, or not. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2023, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-8-earthquake-in-turkiye-syria-02-06-2023/979377/39 "2023-02-13T23:26:07Z")
I wonder how many of the arrestees are saying “Hey! you can’t arrest me! I already paid my ~~bribe~~ amnesty fines!” That’s the real problem: bought-off bureaucrats don’t stay bought off. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2023, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-8-earthquake-in-turkiye-syria-02-06-2023/979377/40 "2023-02-13T23:33:57Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > They are starting to arrest construction company officials. I suspect, aside from possible corruption and actual illegalities, the government there is setting these people up as fall guys so the government doesn’t have to take any responsibility for debacle that is the search/rescue/recovery/clean-up/rebuilding. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-8-earthquake-in-turkiye-syria-02-06-2023/979377.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-8-earthquake-in-turkiye-syria-02-06-2023/979377.md?page=3)