Month: February 2023

More than 4,300 people were killed and 15,000 injured in Turkey and over the border in Syria when the quake struck in the early hours of Monday.

The World Health Organization has warned the toll may rise dramatically as rescuers find more victims.

As day breaks rescue teams are stepping up their search for survivors.

Many people in the disaster zone have been too scared to go back into buildings.

The 7.8 magnitude tremor struck at 04:17 (01:17 GMT) on Monday at a depth of 17.9km (11 miles) near the city of Gaziantep, according to the US Geological Survey.

Seismologists say it was one of the largest ever recorded in Turkey, where at least 2,921 people are now known to have died. Survivors say it took two minutes for the shaking to stop.

A later tremor had a magnitude of 7.5, and its epicentre was in the Elbistan district of Kahramanmaras province.

As dawn broke on Tuesday, traffic was at a standstill on the main highway to the Turkish city of Maras, close to the epicentre of the quake and believed to be one of the worst-affected areas.

Cars occasionally crawled forward, the wet road illuminated by glowing red brake lights.

Few rescuers have made it to this part of southern Turkey yet and everyone is trying to get there as fast as they can to assess the damage and give vital help.

One search and rescue team on their way to the city, their van loaded with specialist equipment and supplies, told the BBC they were eager to get there and start looking for survivors, but they had no idea how bad the devastation would be when they arrived.

As aftershocks continue, rescuers in some areas have been digging through rubble with their bare hands looking for survivors.

In the Turkish city of Osmaniye, near the epicentre, pouring rain hampered rescuers as they searched through the rubble looking for any survivors.

The city was without power as the cold and rain set in.

One family camped on the street – despite the freezing temperatures – as they were scared of the aftershocks triggering another building to collapse.

Every time they felt an aftershock, the family moved closer into the middle of the street.

A hotel owner in the city told the BBC that of 14 guests staying that night only seven had been found.

Countries around the world are sending support to help the rescue efforts, including specialist teams, sniffer dogs and equipment.

But the earthquake has caused significant damage to three airports across Turkey, also creating challenges for aid deliveries.

At least 1,400 people are now known to have been killed in Syria where millions of refugees live in camps on the Turkish border.

Following an international appeal for help, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said 45 countries had offered support.

UN Secretary General António Guterres called for an international response, saying that many of the families hit by the disaster were “already in dire need of humanitarian aid in areas where access is a challenge”.

The European Union is sending search and rescue teams to Turkey, while rescuers from the Netherlands and Romania are already on their way. The UK has said it will send 76 specialists, equipment and rescue dogs.

France, Germany, Israel, and the US have also pledged to help. Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered help to both Turkey and Syria, as has Iran.

Turkey lies in one of the world’s most active earthquake zones.

In 1999 a quake killed more than 17,000 in the north-west while in 1939, 33,000 people died in the eastern province of Erzincan.

This earthquake was powerful enough to be felt as far away as Cyprus, Lebanon and Israel.

A team of 76 rescuers is flying to Turkey on Monday evening.

Two 7.8 and 7.5 magnitude quakes have devastated parts of Turkey and Syria, reducing many buildings to rubble.

Turkish communities in the UK have been sending aid to the areas affected by the earthquake since early on Monday morning.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said the impact of the quakes was “on a scale that we have not seen for quite some time”.

More than 10,000 people are thought to have been injured.

No Britons had yet been reported dead in the disaster, said Mr Cleverly.

The British rescue team “should be on the ground shortly to give the Turkish authorities the help that they need to try to save as many lives as possible”, he said.

The UK is also sending specialist equipment, four specially trained dogs and a team of emergency medics in what Downing Street said was “very much the initial response”.

No 10 said the government was looking at ways it could support humanitarian action in northwest Syria, and that its first approach would be to work through the United Nations (UN).

Turkey’s disaster agency said more than 1,500 people had died there, while it is estimated that 810 people died in Syria.

Those numbers are still expected to rise as rescuers comb through mountains of rubble in freezing, snowy weather.

The chairman of the British Turkish Association said he had been “inundated” with calls from people worried about loved ones.

Attila Ustun described it as a “heartbreaking” day for Turks everywhere and said there was “a very large connection” between the Turkish communities in east and north London and the area where the quake struck.

He continued: “Some were born in those cities and towns that are now a disaster zone.”

Mr Ustun said people from Turkish backgrounds had been reaching out after learning family members had died, including “one gentleman in Bedfordshire who has lost three of his uncles in one property”.

He added: “I’ve been inundated, I had one lady in London crying her eyes out and saying that half of her village is now rubble.

“People are ringing me asking what they can do to help.”

The British Turkish Association is taking donations, particularly winter clothes, at different points across the UK.

Countries around the world have pledged or offered support for operations in southeast Turkey and northern Syria following the disaster.

Ebu Bekir Tezgel, senior Imam at Aziziye Mosque in north London, said many of its worshippers had relatives in the area of Turkey where the earthquake hit.

He said there had been prayers for those affected and efforts were being made to send emergency aid.

“Everyone’s morale is very down as you can imagine,” he told BBC News.

“We would normally stop and talk after prayer, to sit around and have a little chat – but that didn’t happen today.”

He said work would continue to gather aid to send to Turkey as well as identify members of mosque who need specific support.

Cengiz Akarsu lives in Durham, but is originally from Elaziğ in the east of Turkey. His brother moved to the city of Hatay – which has been devastated by the earthquake – for work, and has lost his house. The company he works for has moved him and his family to a hotel in Adana.

He says he feels “helpless” knowing he “can’t do anything”.

“It’s just like your family, you know and I know, they’re in trouble and you’re watching them,” he says.

“Everyone is like family… they don’t have religion, they don’t have colour, they don’t have country, they are just human people dying.”

Mr Akarsu said his best friend had also been missing since the earthquake happened.

Charities are also launching appeals, including The British Red Cross.

Its chief executive, Mike Adamson, said it was “shocking” to see the scale of destruction caused by this earthquake with homes, hospitals and roads destroyed across the region.

“The priority right now is rescuing people from the rubble and Red Cross Red Crescent teams are on the ground in Syria and Turkey providing urgent support during these critical hours.”

The weekly cabinet meeting has been pushed back an hour and will now begin at 10:30 GMT.

Rishi Sunak has been looking for a new party chairman for over a week now, following the sacking of Nadhim Zahawi.

One well-placed source told the BBC they expected Mr Zahawi’s successor to be the Trade Minister Greg Hands.

Were that to be the case, that would mean Mr Sunak would be looking for a new trade minister.

We understand the current Business Secretary Grant Shapps – a former party chairman – will not be the new party chairman.

It is also thought the responsibilities of some government departments may be changed, with a reorganisation of what is currently the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy expected by some.

The prime minister promised last summer – when he was campaigning for the job – to re-establish a standalone Department for Energy.

The Westminster rumour mill had been alive with chat about a potential reshuffle all weekend, after requests were made for diaries to be shifted prompted suspicions from some.

Talk of a reshuffle had been dismissed by those around the prime minister. But when both The Sun and The Times reported expected changes, Downing Street refused to comment.

There was fury from some in Whitehall about what was seen as the prime minister’s failure to tell his colleagues and the civil service before it was reported by journalists.

“There are a bunch of civil servants going to bed not knowing which department they’re going to be working for in the morning,” one source said.

“Surely they should have the courtesy of telling us first.”

The Department of Culture, Media, Digital and Sport is also anticipating change. The current Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan is expected to take maternity leave this spring.

The Sun suggests the responsibilities of her department may be changed too – which would pose big questions for complex bits of legislation such as the Online Safety Bill.

When repeatedly asked to comment on or deny suggestions of a reshuffle or Whitehall reorganisation, a Number 10 source said “no comment”.

State media reports the pardons by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei came with conditions.

The pardons come on the eve of the anniversary of the Islamic revolution in 1979.

Demonstrations erupted last September following the death in custody of a woman held by Iran’s morality police.

Mahsa Amini, 22, was arrested for allegedly wearing her hijab, or headscarf, “improperly” – in violation of Iran’s strict dress code for women.

Authorities have portrayed the protests – which are still continuing – as foreign-backed “riots” and at times have responded with lethal force.

Human rights groups say more than 500 demonstrators have been killed, including 70 minors, and around 20,000 have been arrested.

Protests around the country have slowed considerably since the first of the hangings began.

Iran’s state media says Ayatollah Khamenei’s latest pardons came after a letter from the head of the judiciary framed many of those detained as young people who’d been led astray by foreign influence and propaganda.

The letter claims that a number of protesters had expressed regret and asked for forgiveness.

But those charged with more serious offences – such as spying for foreign agents, murder or destruction of state property – will not be pardoned.

The measure will also not extend to any dual nationals currently being detained.

Under Article 110 of the Iranian constitution, the country’s supreme leader has the authority to issue pardons at the recommendation of the judiciary.

Sadeq Rahimi, the deputy judiciary chief, explained that those inmates who are qualified to be pardoned must pledge in writing that they regret what they have done otherwise, they will not be freed.

According to a report by the judiciary-affiliated news agency, Mizan, Mr Rahimi said that “for the first time ever” defendants who have not received any final verdict will be also pardoned.

Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights estimates that at least 100 people in detention are facing death sentences. It says that all defendants have been “deprived of the right to access their own lawyer, due process and fair trials”.

Four have already been executed for crimes connected to the protests. In January two men were hanged for killing a member of Iran’s security forces.

The pair launched an appeal before their deaths, saying they had been tortured.