Despite criticism for its response, Turkey’s Emergency and Disaster Management Agency (AFAD) is doing everything possible to coordinate help so that it reaches the victims of the earthquakes, says its president Yunus Sezer, despite the fact that the earthquakes have destroyed infrastructure, roads and bridges, and all that in the midst of a harsh winter that has made communications extremely difficult. Another added problem is the magnitude of the disaster: the earthquakes devastated cities and towns in a region with 13 million inhabitants larger than Portugal; only the first earthquake of 7.8 released in 65 seconds the energy of 500 atomic bombs. “When a disaster is limited to one or two cities, the teams in the region coordinate and act immediately,” he explains; if the disaster occurs in one province, AFAD teams from all neighboring provinces intervene. “In the current situation, since the earthquakes have seriously damaged 10 provinces, the rescue teams that had to intervene have themselves become victims of the earthquake.”
VOTE
EDITORIAL TEAM
🧿 About us
.
Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
…
📣 Your ADVERTISING on Hispanatolia
.
🤗 HELP US WITH A DONATION:
💗 Paypal
