On Feb. 6, 2023, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 struck a southern part of Turkey and parts of Syria. In many highly populated areas, this triggered what is known as a pancake collapse. In the case of Turkey, the floors of the building fell on top of each other, crushing the contents of the floor. As of Feb. 17, the death toll is nearing 44,000 and is expected to rise significantly in the coming months, as rescuers continue to find remains.
Since the earthquake, footage has resurfaced of Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in which he boasted of giving amnesty to builders that failed to meet earthquake codes. With this amnesty, the builders were able to pay a small fine but were permitted to ignore all the earthquake building codes. This is the cause of much of the disaster seen so far, especially in the city of Kahramanmaras, one of the cities hit the hardest by the earthquake. While the total cost of the earthquake is still unknown, Business Today estimated the impact of to be upwards of $20 billion.
After more than a week of searching the rubble for survivors, rescue efforts are shifting to recovery rather than rescue. In an interview with Wade Aaron Baker, an adjunct instructor for John Brown University’s Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief program, he said that over time it becomes less and less feasible to find survivors. Response units probably will start switching to large-scale machinery for clearing rubble.
Baker also explained that as the rescue team switches to recovery, fewer and fewer specialized forces will be on the scene, while more and more technical teams will move in. In the coming weeks, large-scale dirt movers will come in along with morticians and missing person investigators.
In light of the donation scams surfacing involving the earthquake in Turkey, Baker suggested the following ways to get involved in the aid efforts.
“It’s as simple as give, send, go … give only to a trusted organization,” Baker said.
He added that a time of crisis is not the moment to try a new charity, nor is it the time to be researching about a new charity. If a person already knows a charity that is involved in the aid efforts, it is best to donate directly to them. Baker also warned people to be wary of links to sites that look like a charity since many of these are fraudulent.
The second instruction from Baker was to “send practical things.” Many charity websites listed items that are needed. Some disaster relief experts call the mass of clothes that show up a second disaster after the first. A way to minimize this, according to Baker, is to only donate items specifically requested by charities.
Finally, Baker said those that are able to goshould help on-site. He added, “Every person has a unique set of gifts: resources, ideas, opportunities and areas of compassion where they can really make a difference beyond what they think they can do.”