Handicap International explains that there is “a lot of psychological trauma”
“There are a lot of psychological traumas, people are anxious, people sleep in the street, they are too afraid of aftershocks”, explains on BFM Lyon Florence Daunis, director of operations at Handicap International. She also recalls that for survivors it will be a question of managing aftercare, for example for people who find themselves amputated, “managing trauma over many months”.
“The needs are enormous,” she says, calling for donations.
The search for survivors in the rubble continues
The search for survivors in the rubble in Syria and Turkey continues. Many organizations are present on site to help the population, such as the Red Cross or the Paris Fire Brigade.
Alsatian cartographers help
Thanks to the satellite images they collect, these cartographers guide the rescue teams intervening in Turkey, after the strong earthquakes that devastated the area.
“We are going to provide maps made from satellite images to indicate the most impacted areas” explains Claire Huber, satellite image processing engineer, “they will be used by crisis management services to deploy relief”.
Access to Twitter has been restored in Turkey
It is again possible to access Twitter in Turkey, the Netblocks observatory said on Thursday. Access to this social network was restricted on Wednesday. “The data confirms that access to Twitter is being restored in Turkey after hours of filtering,” NetBlocks wrote on its Twitter account.
Many false images have circulated on social networks
A few tweets that have gone viral show fake images of the disaster that took place in Syria and Turkey on Monday, such as a nuclear explosion or even a tsunami. To verify the veracity of a photo, or at least its context, the use of Google’s “reverse search”, or its Google Lens tool, is highly recommended.
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UN calls for ‘putting politics aside’ and facilitating access to northwest Syria
In some regions affected by the various earthquakes that occurred on Monday, rescue operations are proving difficult.
On Wednesday, the United Nations called on Wednesday to “put politics aside” and facilitate access to stricken rebel regions in northwestern Syria, bordering Turkey.
“Put politics aside and let us do our humanitarian work,” said UN resident coordinator in Syria El-Mostafa Benlamlih in an interview with AFP.
“We can’t afford to wait and negotiate. If we wait to negotiate, it will already be too late.”
The new provisional toll crosses the threshold of 16,000 dead
According to a new, still provisional report officially released, more than 16,000 people died in the earthquake and its aftershocks which hit Turkey and Syria on Monday morning.
Some 12,873 people died in Turkey and 3,162 in Syria, according to authorities and medical sources, bringing the total number of victims to 16,035.
Twitter inaccessible for several hours in Turkey, amid criticism of the authorities
Access to Twitter was restored in Turkey on Thursday after being blocked for a dozen hours on the country’s main mobile phone providers, amid growing criticism of the government’s response to the earthquake that struck Turkey and Turkey. Syria.
The return to service, noted by an AFP journalist in Turkey, came shortly after a tweet from the boss of the social network, Elon Musk, according to which “Twitter has been informed by the Turkish government that access will be reactivated shortly “.
A French rescuer describes the difficult conditions of intervention in Turkey
Arrived a few hours after the earthquakes that hit the area, Éric Zipper, rescuer from major natural disasters with the World Relief Corps, testifies to the daily difficulties of rescuers.
“Last night, the Turkish authorities asked us to stop at midnight for security reasons, because of the cold. It is difficult to progress by day, by night, we only intervene if calls are heard”, he explains.
Fortunately, he explains that between the dramas, the rescuers manage to get out of the living inhabitants of the rubble.
“Yesterday afternoon, we located in extremis a person walled in from the start, a living 26-year-old man”, he rejoices, still assuring that the delay of one week after the earthquake “allows people to be found alive. .”
WHO fears major health crisis after earthquakes
The World Health Organization on Wednesday called for the urgent restoration of essential services in Turkey and Syria, fearing a major health crisis that would cause even more damage than the earthquakes themselves.
At a press conference in Geneva, Robert Holden, in charge of the earthquake response at the WHO, explained that the immediate objective was to save lives but that “at the same time, it is imperative to s ensure that those who survived the initial disaster continue to survive”.
“We are clearly concerned by the fact (…) that a secondary health crisis is emerging” which will exacerbate the health risks already existing in the region, added at his side Dr Adelheid Marschang, another emergency manager. at the WHO.
Death toll exceeds 15,000
The number of victims of this earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 and its many aftershocks exceeded 15,000 dead on Thursday morning. In detail, 12,391 deaths are recorded in Turkey and 2,992 in Syria, bringing the total to 15,383 deaths at this stage.
On site, rescuers remain engaged in a race against time to save survivors in the bitter cold. The WHO estimates that in these two countries, 23 million people are affected by these earthquakes.
Hello everyone !
Welcome to this live broadcast dedicated to the aftermath of the deadly earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria on Monday February 6, 2023.
