Live Updates - UNESCO meninjau kerusakan situs kuno akibat gempa

Perjuangan kekalutan sedang berlangsung Selasa, untuk menemukan lebih banyak orang yang selamat dan membantu yang terluka karena jumlah korban tewas akibat gempa dahsyat yang melanda Turki dan Suriah pada hari sebelumnya melewati 5.000. Jumlah korban kemungkinan akan meningkat karena cuaca yang membekukan dan beberapa gempa susulan mempersulit upaya penyelamatan yang dilakukan dengan bantuan internasional.

Inilah yang terbaru setelah gempa berkekuatan 7,8 pada hari Senin yang menghancurkan bagian tenggara Turki dan Suriah utara.

Badan kebudayaan Perserikatan Bangsa-Bangsa mengatakan sedang melakukan survei awal kerusakan situs warisan di daerah yang dilanda gempa, dengan tujuan untuk membantu mengamankan dan menstabilkannya dengan cepat. UNESCO yang berbasis di Paris “sangat prihatin dengan situasi di kota kuno Aleppo” di Suriah, yang masuk dalam daftar Warisan Dunia yang terancam punah.

“Kerusakan signifikan telah dicatat di benteng. Menara barat tembok kota tua telah runtuh dan beberapa bangunan di souk telah melemah,” kata pernyataan itu.

Di Turki, UNESCO menyatakan duka cita dengan berita runtuhnya beberapa bangunan di Benteng Diyarbakir dan Taman Hevsel, sebuah situs Warisan Dunia yang berasal dari zaman Yunani dan Romawi kuno.

China akan memberikan bantuan sebesar 6 juta dolar kepada Turki dan bersama dengan mengerahkan “tim penyelamat perkotaan yang berat dan tim medis serta menyediakan bahan bantuan yang sangat dibutuhkan oleh pihak Turki,” kata juru bicara Kementerian Luar Negeri China Mao Ning.

“Kami mengoordinasikan penyediaan pasokan bantuan yang sangat dibutuhkan ke Suriah dan mempercepat pelaksanaan proyek bantuan pangan yang sedang berlangsung,” katanya.

Mao mengatakan kepada wartawan pada hari Selasa bahwa Presiden Xi Jinping "mengirim pesan belasungkawa kepada Presiden Turki Recep Tayyip Erdogan dan Presiden Suriah Bashar Assad, berduka atas para korban dan menyatakan simpati yang tulus kepada keluarga para korban dan yang terluka."

Dia tidak mengatakan kapan tim penyelamat China akan menuju Turki.

Menteri Luar Negeri Palestina Riad Malki mengatakan Otoritas Palestina akan mengirimkan dua misi kemanusiaan untuk membantu di Suriah dan Turki.

Misi bantuan akan mencakup pertahanan sipil dan tim medis, kata juru bicara pemerintah Ibrahim Milhem.

Sebuah tim beranggotakan 55 orang juga diharapkan berada di Turki dari Libya. Pemerintah Perdana Menteri Abdel Hamid Dbeibah di ibu kota Libya, Tripoli, mengatakan tim tersebut akan mencakup penyelamat, anggota medis bersama dengan empat anjing untuk berpartisipasi dalam upaya pencarian dan penyelamatan yang sedang berlangsung.

Dan pekerja medis Spanyol akan mendirikan rumah sakit lapangan di Turki untuk merawat yang terluka, kata menteri luar negeri Spanyol, Jose Manuel Albares, Selasa. Spanyol telah memobilisasi pasukan dan drone dari Unit Darurat Militer negara itu ke Bandara Malatya, tempat otoritas Turki telah memasang pusat bantuan internasional.

Wakil Presiden Turki Fuat Oktay mengatakan sekitar 3.294 tim pencarian dan penyelamatan dari 14 negara telah tiba sejauh ini untuk bergabung dalam operasi pencarian dan penyelamatan. Tim-tim itu dipindahkan ke provinsi yang paling terpukul di Hatay, Kahramanmaras, dan Adiyaman, katanya.

Dia mendaftarkan negara-negara pengirim tim sebagai Republik Ceko, Prancis, Malta, Belanda, India, Polandia, Aljazair, Italia, Moldova, Albania, Israel, Uzbekistan, Hongaria, Jerman, Serbia, Slovakia, Qatar, Inggris, dan Rusia.

Sekitar 380.000 orang yang selamat saat ini ditampung di asrama pemerintah atau hotel, kata wakil presiden.

Oktay mengatakan negara itu telah membuat "kemajuan serius" dalam menyediakan derek ke daerah yang dilanda gempa untuk membantu upaya penyelamatan, menambahkan bahwa lebih dari 500 alat berat dikirim.

Kepala Bulan Sabit Merah Arab Suriah, Khaled Hboubati, mendesak Amerika Serikat dan Uni Eropa untuk mencabut sanksi lama yang dijatuhkan terhadap Suriah, dengan mengatakan negara itu sangat membutuhkan bantuan setelah gempa bumi.

“Saya menyerukan pencabutan sanksi terhadap Suriah. Ini adalah hal yang paling penting bagi kami,” kata Hboubati pada konferensi pers Damaskus, menyoroti kebutuhan mesin konstruksi untuk upaya penyelamatan.

Sanksi oleh Amerika Serikat, Uni Eropa dan beberapa negara Arab telah diberlakukan sejak 2011, setelah pemerintah Presiden Bashar Assad menindak protes terhadap pemerintahannya.

Wakil presiden Turki mengatakan jumlah kematian terkait gempa di Turki telah meningkat menjadi 3.419, dengan 20.534 orang lainnya terluka. Itu membuat jumlah total orang yang terbunuh menjadi 5.021 sejak 1.602 kematian lainnya dikonfirmasi di Suriah.

Gempa bumi melanda Senin pagi, merobohkan ribuan bangunan. Tim penyelamat berlomba dengan panik untuk menemukan lebih banyak orang yang selamat tetapi upaya mereka terhalang oleh suhu di bawah titik beku dan sekitar 200 gempa susulan, yang membuat pencarian melalui struktur yang tidak stabil menjadi berbahaya.

Pejabat pemerintah Turki sebelumnya mengatakan sekitar 13,5 juta orang tinggal di daerah yang rusak akibat gempa dan beberapa kemajuan telah dicapai dalam memulihkan listrik dan membuka kembali jalan raya di daerah yang terkena dampak bencana. Di Istanbul, sementara itu, ribuan relawan bantuan berbondong-bondong ke bandara utama kota menawarkan untuk berpartisipasi dalam upaya pencarian dan penyelamatan. Orang-orang di seluruh Turki juga bergegas ke rumah sakit menawarkan untuk menyumbangkan darah.

Kepala Organisasi Kesehatan Dunia mengatakan badan kesehatan PBB mengirim tiga penerbangan carter pasokan medis, termasuk peralatan trauma bedah, ke Turki dan Suriah dari pusat logistiknya di Dubai.

Direktur Jenderal Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus mengatakan kepada dewan eksekutif WHO di Jenewa pada hari Selasa bahwa “kami sangat prihatin dengan area di mana kami belum memiliki informasi,” tanpa menyebutkan di mana itu. Dia mengatakan bahwa “pemetaan kerusakan sedang berlangsung untuk memahami di mana kita perlu memusatkan perhatian kita.”

Kepala badan darurat, Dr. Mike Ryan, mengatakan bahwa “skala bencana ini akan membutuhkan tanggapan yang berkelanjutan dan dampak sekunder dari bencana ini juga akan berlangsung selama berbulan-bulan, terutama bagi orang-orang yang sudah terpengaruh, sudah rentan karena banyak alasan lain di kawasan ini, dan khususnya di Suriah.”

Gempa hari Senin mempengaruhi wilayah yang dikuasai pemerintah dan oposisi di Suriah.

Perwakilan negara WHO di Turki, Batyr Berdyklychev, mengatakan kantor lapangan badan PBB di Gaziantep, Turki – yang telah menyediakan operasi lintas batas ke beberapa bagian Suriah – pada hari Senin memindahkan pasokan trauma, darurat dan bedah ke 16 rumah sakit di barat laut Suriah

Perdana Menteri Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif akan melakukan perjalanan ke Ankara Rabu untuk menyampaikan belasungkawa dan solidaritasnya kepada Presiden Recep Tayyip Erdogan dan rakyat Turki atas "kehilangan nyawa dan kehancuran yang berharga" yang disebabkan oleh gempa mematikan, menurut sebuah pernyataan dari Islamabad. Pakistan juga berjanji akan mengirimkan bantuan.

Turki telah mengerahkan lebih dari 24.400 personel pencarian dan penyelamatan ke daerah gempa.

Jumlah itu diperkirakan akan meningkat dengan kedatangan personel tambahan meskipun kondisi musim dingin menghambat pengerahan mereka, kata pejabat badan penanggulangan bencana Orhan Tatar.

“Kondisi cuaca buruk terus berlanjut di wilayah tersebut. Oleh karena itu, dari waktu ke waktu mungkin sulit untuk mengangkut tim SAR ini ke wilayah tersebut,” katanya.

“Kondisi cuaca buruk terus berlanjut di wilayah tersebut. Oleh karena itu, dari waktu ke waktu mungkin sulit untuk mengangkut tim SAR ini ke wilayah tersebut,” katanya.

Suhu semalam di kota Gaziantep yang dilanda gempa turun menjadi -5 C (23 F).

Tatar mengatakan 10 kapal membantu upaya penyelamatan, dengan mengangkut yang terluka ke rumah sakit, terutama dari pelabuhan Iskenderun di Mediterania.

Sekitar 55 helikopter telah melakukan 154 sorti untuk mengangkut bantuan darurat dan sekitar 85 truk membagikan makanan, katanya.

Tatar mengatakan pihaknya telah menerima 11.342 laporan tentang bangunan yang runtuh, tetapi hanya 5.775 dari laporan tersebut yang telah dikonfirmasi.

Kebakaran besar yang terjadi di bagian pelabuhan di kota yang dilanda gempa di tenggara Turki berkobar untuk hari kedua.

Gambar televisi Selasa menunjukkan asap hitam tebal naik dari kontainer yang terbakar di Pelabuhan Iskenderun di Laut Mediterania, di kota Iskenderun. Laporan mengatakan kebakaran itu disebabkan oleh kontainer yang terguling saat gempa kuat yang melanda Turki tenggara pada Senin.

Badan Anadolu yang dikelola pemerintah Turki mengatakan sebuah kapal Penjaga Pantai Turki membantu upaya memadamkan api.

Organisasi bantuan medis Doctors Without Borders mengatakan seorang anggota staf telah ditemukan tewas di bawah reruntuhan rumahnya di provinsi Idlib Suriah setelah gempa kuat yang melanda Suriah dan Turki.

“Kami sangat terkejut dan sedih atas dampak bencana ini terhadap ribuan orang yang terkena dampaknya, termasuk rekan kami dan keluarga mereka,” kata Sebastien Gay, kepala misi kelompok itu di Suriah.

Gay mengatakan fasilitas kesehatan di Suriah utara kewalahan dengan tenaga medis yang bekerja sepanjang waktu untuk menanggapi sejumlah besar orang yang terluka.

Daerah yang rusak akibat gempa di Suriah terbagi antara wilayah yang dikuasai pemerintah dan kantong terakhir yang dikuasai oposisi negara itu, yang dikelilingi oleh pasukan pemerintah dan berbatasan dengan Turki.

Gay mengatakan kebutuhan sangat tinggi di Suriah barat laut, di mana gempa menambah lapisan dramatis bagi orang-orang rentan yang masih berjuang setelah perang bertahun-tahun. “Konsekuensi besar dari bencana ini akan membutuhkan upaya bantuan internasional (yang ditingkatkan),” katanya.

India dan Korea Selatan termasuk di antara negara-negara yang mengirimkan personel penyelamat dan perbekalan setelah gempa dahsyat melanda Turki dan Suriah utara.

India mengatakan akan mengirim 100 anggota Pasukan Tanggap Bencana Alam, regu dan peralatan anjing terlatih khusus ke Turki. Tim medis dengan dokter terlatih, paramedis, dan obat-obatan penting juga sudah siap, kata Kementerian Luar Negeri dalam sebuah pernyataan.

Korea Selatan akan mengirimkan tim SAR beranggotakan 60 orang dengan pasokan medis. Itu juga menyumbangkan $5 juta awal ke Turki.

Dalam mengumumkan rencana tersebut Selasa, Presiden Korea Selatan Yoon Suk Yeol menggambarkan Turki sebagai “saudara bangsa” yang mengirim pasukan untuk berperang bersama Korea Selatan selama Perang Korea 1950-53. Turki kehilangan lebih dari 700 pasukannya dalam aksi.

Kementerian Pertahanan Korea Selatan sedang mengatur rencana dengan badan-badan terkait untuk memobilisasi pesawat militer untuk mengangkut petugas penyelamat dan pasokan bantuan, kata juru bicara kementerian Jeon Ha Gyu.

“Ini adalah keputusan yang jelas untuk membantu saudara kita, Turki, untuk mengatasi rasa sakit dan kesulitan ini,” kata Yoon selama rapat Kabinet. “Peristiwa yang memakan korban yang begitu besar lebih dari sekedar bencana suatu bangsa dan harus dilihat sebagai bencana internasional, dan masyarakat internasional harus sepenuhnya menjalankan tugas dan tanggung jawabnya.”

Suriah yang dilanda perang menyerukan kepada Perserikatan Bangsa-Bangsa dan semua negara anggota untuk membantu upaya penyelamatan, layanan kesehatan, tempat tinggal dan bantuan makanan setelah gempa besar yang menewaskan ribuan orang di Suriah dan Turki.

Suriah yang dilanda perang menyerukan kepada Perserikatan Bangsa-Bangsa dan semua negara anggota untuk membantu upaya penyelamatan, layanan kesehatan, tempat tinggal dan bantuan makanan setelah gempa besar yang menewaskan ribuan orang di Suriah dan Turki.

Daerah yang rusak akibat gempa di Suriah terbagi antara wilayah yang dikuasai pemerintah dan kantong terakhir yang dikuasai oposisi negara itu, yang dikelilingi oleh pasukan pemerintah dan berbatasan dengan Turki.

Duta Besar Suriah untuk PBB, Bassam Sabbagh, mengatakan kepada wartawan bahwa Sekretaris Jenderal PBB António Guterres "meyakinkan kami bahwa PBB akan melakukan semua yang mungkin untuk membantu Suriah dalam situasi yang sangat sulit ini." Sabbagh mengatakan dia telah mengirimkan surat kepada Guterres dari menteri luar negeri negara itu untuk meminta bantuan.

Sabbagh ditanya apakah Suriah akan setuju untuk mengizinkan PBB mengirimkan bantuan melalui titik penyeberangan lain dari Turki, jika memungkinkan. Dia tidak menanggapi secara langsung, tetapi mengatakan pemerintah siap membantu dan mengoordinasikan pengiriman bantuan “ke semua warga Suriah di semua wilayah Suriah.”

Wilayah yang dikuasai pemberontak bergantung pada aliran bantuan dari Turki terdekat untuk segala hal mulai dari makanan hingga pasokan medis

Presiden Joe Biden menelepon Presiden Turki Recep Tayyip Erdogan pada hari Senin untuk menyampaikan belasungkawa. Gedung Putih dalam pernyataan mengatakan bahwa Biden menggarisbawahi "kesiapan Amerika Serikat untuk memberikan setiap dan semua bantuan yang dibutuhkan" kepada sekutu NATO-nya, Turki.

Juru bicara Dewan Keamanan Nasional Gedung Putih John Kirby mengatakan pemerintahan Biden mengirimkan dua, 79 orang teh pencarian dan penyelamatan perkotaan.

Presiden Turki Recep Tayyip Erdogan telah mengumumkan tujuh hari berkabung nasional menyusul gempa mematikan yang melanda negara itu pada Senin. Bendera Turki akan dikibarkan setengah tiang di seluruh negara dan di misi diplomatiknya di luar negeri.

Menteri Kesehatan Fahrettin Koca mengatakan sedikitnya 1.651 orang tewas dan 11.119 terluka di 10 provinsi. Ratusan lainnya dilaporkan tewas di negara tetangga Suriah.

Presiden Turki Recep Tayyip Erdogan telah mengumumkan tujuh hari berkabung nasional menyusul gempa mematikan yang melanda negara itu pada Senin. Bendera Turki akan dikibarkan setengah tiang di seluruh negara dan di misi diplomatiknya di luar negeri.

Menteri Kesehatan Fahrettin Koca mengatakan sedikitnya 1.651 orang tewas dan 11.119 terluka di 10 provinsi. Ratusan lainnya dilaporkan tewas di negara tetangga Suriah.

Rupiah merosot akibat aksi profit-taking

Ilustrasi Rupiah. Foto: Medcom.id/Husen Miftahudin

Nilai tukar rupiah yang ditransaksikan antarbank di Jakarta pada Selasa merosot akibat aksi profit-taking (ambil untung) oleh pelaku pasar.

Kurs rupiah pada Selasa pagi turun 62 poin atau 0,41 persen ke posisi Rp15.117 per dolar AS dibandingkan posisi pada penutupan perdagangan sebelumnya Rp15.055 per dolar AS.

"Rupiah sedang mengalami pelemahan menyusul aksi profit-taking," kata Analis Indonesia Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (ICDX) Revandra Aritama saat dihubungi ANTARA di Jakarta.

Aksi profit-taking dilakukan setelah rupiah mengalami penguatan yang cukup besar secara year to date hingga menyentuh level Rp14.850-an per dolar AS.

Selain itu, Revandra mengatakan pasar juga masih mengantisipasi laju inflasi dan kenaikan suku bunga Amerika Serikat (AS).

Inflasi AS sudah mulai menurun namun masih jauh dari target Bank Sentral AS atau The Fed. Hal itu memunculkan kekhawatiran bahwa suku bunga AS saat ini belum mencapai puncaknya, sehingga terbuka kemungkinan The Fed melanjutkan untuk menaikkan nilai suku bunga beberapa kali lagi sepanjang tahun ini.

Data menunjukkan bahwa pemberi kerja AS menambahkan lebih banyak pekerjaan pada Januari daripada perkiraan para ekonom, berpotensi memberi The Fed lebih banyak kelonggaran untuk mempertahankan kenaikan suku bunga.

Laporan ketenagakerjaan Departemen Tenaga Kerja AS yang diawasi ketat menunjukkan bahwa penggajian nonpertanian (NFP) melonjak sebanyak 517.000 pekerjaan bulan lalu.

Revandra memproyeksikan rupiah bergerak di kisaran Rp15.000 per dolar AS sampai dengan Rp15.200 per dolar AS.

Nilai tukar rupiah pada akhir perdagangan Senin (6/2) melemah tajam 162 poin atau 1,08 persen ke posisi Rp15.055 per dolar AS dibandingkan posisi pada penutupan perdagangan sebelumnya Rp14.894 per dolar AS.

'We Are Afraid': Syrian Residents Sleeping Inside Cars Over Risk of Further Earthquakes

©AP Photo / Ghaith Alsayed

Syrians are afraid to stay indoors due to the risk of further earthquakes and have to sleep in their parked cars, local residents told.

Early on Monday, a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck southeastern Turkey and northern Syria. Another 7.6 magnitude earthquake occurred a few hours later. The death toll from the disaster currently stands at 1,762 people in Turkey and 590 in Syria, with thousands of others injured. The numbers are expected to keep rising.

"We sleep outside, in the car," an Aleppo resident told Sputnik.

She added that the city had been seriously damaged by the earthquake and people were scared to return to their homes.

"We were lucky, our house is intact, although the furniture, crockery were badly damaged, the TV fell down. We could spend the night [in the house], but we are afraid," she said, adding that locals spend the time by helping to clear the debris and talking with friends and relatives over the phone. The situation in the city of Latakia is similar, the corespondent said.

"The city itself was not badly damaged, only a few houses were destroyed. The cities of Baniyas and Jableh were affected more, but, in Latakia, there are now all sorts of rumors about the dates and time of new tremors, although we understand that scientists cannot predict them that accurately," a local resident of Russian origin said.

Residents of Latakia are afraid to return to their homes as well. Despite heavy rain, they are spending the night in the streets, in tents or in cars.

"There are power outages, problems with the Internet connection, but, in general, people are holding up," she added. Earlier in the day, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the earthquake was the most powerful to hit his country in more than eight decades. Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with Erdogan and Syrian President Bashar Assad in the aftermath of the disaster to extend offers of emergency assistance to both countries.

In addition, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu instructed the commander of Russia's troops in Syria to help the country's authorities deal with the consequences of the earthquake.

7.7-Magnitude Quake Hits Central Turkey, Tremors Felt in Syria 1700 People Confirmed Dead

The quakes affected 10 cities where a total of approximately 13.5 million people reside. ( AA )

The quake was felt in Lebanon's capital, Beirut, according to residents who spoke with Sputnik. It was also felt in Damascus and Latakia in Syria, according to a local newspaper. Israelis in Tel Aviv also reported feeling the quake. According to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre, the quake was felt in Egypt, Georgia, Romania.

A massive 7.4-magnitude earthquake hit Kahramanmaras Province, central Turkey, at 01:17 GMT on Monday. The quake was recorded roughly 15 miles 24 kilometers underground and was felt in at least six nearby provinces (Hatay, Adana, Osmaniye, Diyarbakir, Malatya and Sanliurfa). The quake was followed by dozens of aftershocks, with the strongest one having a magnitude of 6.6.

Dozens of buildings have collapsed across Turkey, and the death toll continues to goes up as rescue workers search for survivors. The massive earthquake also caused multiple buildings to collapse in Syria, leading to multiple deaths.

Rescue and relief efforts are continuing in full force and there is currently no tsunami threat that would affect Türkiye's Eastern Mediterranean coasts, according to AFAD.(AA)

At least 2,835 people have died and rescuers are racing to pull survivors from beneath the rubble after a devastating earthquake ripped through Turkey and Syria, leaving destruction and debris on each side of the border.

One of the strongest earthquakes to hit the region in a century shook residents from their beds at around 4 a.m. on Monday, sending tremors as far away as Lebanon and Israel.

In Turkey, at least 1,762 people have died and several thousand are injured, according to Turkey's Vice President Fuat Oktay.

In neighboring Syria, at least 1,073 people have died. According to the Syrian state news agency SANA, 593 people have died across government-controlled areas, mostly in the regions of Aleppo, Hama, Latakia, and Tartus.

Syrian rescuers (White Helmets) and civilians search for victims and survivors amid the rubble of a collapsed building, in the rebel-held northern countryside of Syria's Idlib province on the border with Turkey, early on Monday

The "White Helmets" group, officially known as the Syria Civil Defense, reported 480 deaths in opposition-controlled areas. Much of northwestern Syria, which borders Turkey, is controlled by anti-government forces amid a bloody civil war that began in 2011.

The epicenter of the 7.8-magnitude quake was 23 kilometers (14.2 miles) east of Nurdagi, in Turkey's Gaziantep province, at a depth of 24.1 kilometers (14.9 miles), the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said.

A series of aftershocks have reverberated throughout the day. The largest, a major quake that measured 7.5 in magnitude, hit in Turkey about nine hours after the initial quake, according to the USGS. That aftershock hit around 95 kilometers (59 miles) north of the original.

Video from the scene in Turkey showed day breaking over rows of collapsed buildings, some with apartments exposed to the elements as people huddled in the freezing cold beside them, waiting for help.

A host of countries have sent rescue workers to help the stricken region, where a colossal effort to find and free trapped civilians is underway. A cold and wet weather system is moving through the region, further hampering that challenge.

Monday's quake is believed to be the strongest to hit Turkey since 1939, when an earthquake of the same magnitude killed 30,000 people, according to the USGS. Earthquakes of this magnitude are rare, with fewer than five occurring each year on average, anywhere in the world. Seven quakes with magnitude 7.0 or greater have struck Turkey in the past 25 years -- but Monday's is the most powerful.

Karl Lang, an assistant professor at Georgia Tech University's School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, told CNN the area hit by the quake Monday is prone to seismic activity. "It's a very large fault zone, but this is a larger earthquake than they've experienced any time in recent memory," Lang said.

"We cannot use the buildings anymore. Maybe for hours. Maybe until tomorrow. I don't know," Dr. Mazen Kewara, Turkey director of the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS), told CNN from near the earthquake's epicenter in Gaziantep, where he and his family were taking shelter in their car.

"Next to my building, about 200-300 meters, there's a collapsed building. There are many buildings that have collapsed in Gaziantep," said Kewara.

'It felt like it would never be over'

Eyad Kourdi, a CNN producer in Gaziantep, who was staying with his parents when the earthquake struck early Monday, said "it felt like it would never be over."

Whole city blocks were destroyed following the powerful earthquake in southern Turkey on February 6, 2023.

When the shaking stopped, Kourdi and his parents walked out of their home still wearing their pajamas, he said.

With several inches of snow on the ground, they waited outside in the rain for about 30 minutes before he could go back inside to grab coats and boots.

Strong aftershocks have been felt in southern and central Turkey. About 11 minutes after the main quake hit, an aftershock of 6.7 magnitude hit about 32 kilometers (20 miles) northwest of the main quake's epicenter. Another intense aftershock with a magnitude of 5.6 then occurred 19 minutes after the main quake.

Kourdi described Monday's aftershocks as being "like Armageddon."

"I actually don't believe I made it out," Kourdi said, adding that when it began, his parents screamed and that he did his best to calm them down -- assuring them it would be over soon.

Kourdi said there were up to eight "very strong" aftershocks in under a minute after the 7.8 magnitude quake struck, causing belongings in his home to fall to the ground. Many of his neighbors had left their homes following the quake, he said.

A destroyed apartment and damaged vehicle in Yurt neighborhood of Cukurova district after the earthquake in Adana, Turkey

He also visited Pazarcik, a neighboring town, and said that the situation there "were even more catastrophic."

Photos showing the true scale of the disaster emerged as day broke in Turkey. Entire buildings have been flattened, with metal rods scattered across the streets. Cars have toppled over, while bulldozers work to clear the debris. Gaziantep Castle has been heavily damaged.

A winter storm in the region is exacerbating the disaster, according to CNN meteorologists.

"Hundreds of thousands of people are impacted by this. It is cold. It is rainy. Roads could be impacted, that means your food, your livelihood, the care for your children, the care for your family," CNN meteorologist Karen Maginnis said.

"Anything as far as crops or anything growing across this region will be impacted as well. The ramifications of this are broad and will impact this region for weeks, and months."

Meanwhile, more than 4 million people rely on humanitarian assistance in the region of northwest Syria where the deadly earthquake struck, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The majority of these people are women and children. Along with the devastation from the earthquake, Syrian communities are battling an ongoing cholera outbreak amid a harsh winter with heavy rain and snow over the weekend, OCHA said in its statement.

The quake damaged several archeological sites in Syria, according to Syria's Directorate-General for Antiquities and Museums (DGAM), including Imam Ismail Mosque and the Shmemis Castle in the Hama Governorate, and the 13th century Aleppo Citadel.

Syria's ancient city of Aleppo in the country's northwest was seriously damaged in the ongoing civil war. DGAM says that artifacts inside the National Museum in Aleppo were also damaged in Monday's earthquake.

Searching for survivors

Search and rescue teams have been dispatched to the south of the country, Turkey's interior minister, Suleyman Soylu, said. Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD) said it had requested international help through the Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC), the European Union's humanitarian program.

Nearly 1,000 search and rescue volunteers have been deployed from Turkey's largest city, Istanbul, along with dogs, trucks and aid, according to its governor, Ali Yerlikaya.

The World Health Organization has activated its network of emergency medical teams in the two countries to assist those affected by the earthquake, the organization's director-general tweeted. Erdogan also said in his televised address that NATO, the European Union and dozens of other countries had offered to help.

The governor of Gaziantep, Davut Gul, said on Twitter that "the earthquake was felt strongly in our city," and advised the public to wait outside their homes and stay calm.

Search and rescue operations are underway as many are fear trapped in the rubble.

"Please let's wait outside without panic. Let's not use our cars. Let's not crowd the main roads. Let's not keep the phones busy," he said.

Gaziantep province has a number of small- and medium-sized cities, with a sizable refugee population, according to Brookings Institute fellow Asli Aydintasbas. "Some of these areas are rather poor. Some are more richer, urban areas ... but other parts that we're talking about that seem to have been devastated, are relatively lower income areas," she said.

Video from the city of Diyarbakir, to the northeast of Gaziantep, shows rescue workers frantically trying to pull survivors out of the rubble.

Erdogan said the quake was felt in many parts of the country.

"I convey my best wishes to all our citizens who were affected by the earthquake that occurred in Kahramanmaraş and was felt in many parts of our country. All our relevant units are on alert under the coordination of AFAD," Erdogan wrote on Twitter.

Messages of condolences and support started pouring in Monday morning as world leaders woke to the news of the deadly earthquake.

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the United States was "profoundly concerned" about the destruction in Syria and Turkey.

"I have been in touch with Turkish officials to relay that we stand ready to provide any & all needed assistance. We will continue to closely monitor the situation in coordination with Turkiye," Sullivan wrote on Twitter.

Ukrainian Forces Using Drone-Dropped Chemical Weapons in Donbass, DPR Chief Says

©AP Photo / Efrem Lukatsky

Donbass People's Militias and Russia's regular Army began finding evidence of suspected Ukrainian preparations to employ chemical weapons last spring. Kiev and its Western sponsors have issued counterclaims, accusing Russia of using or preparing to use its non-existent chemical weapons stocks.i

Ukrainian forces have resorted to the use of chemical weapons in the Artyomovsk (Bakhmut) and Ugledar directions on the front line in the Donbass, Donetsk People's Republic head Denis Pushilin has announced.

"According to the statements of our forces, and commanders who came forward with such information, there are facts of the use of chemical compounds causing sickness among our servicemen not only in the Artyomovsk direction, but also in the Ugledar direction," Pushilin said in an interview with Russian media on Monday.

Pushilin said he has been receiving such reports for at least three weeks now. "They are dropping [chemical weapons] from drones on the locations of our forces," the DPR head clarified.

Earlier in the day, Yan Gagin, an advisor to Pushilin, similarly told Russian media about the employment of chemical agents by the Ukrainian side, and said the agents being used were causing severe dizziness, nausea, and vomiting among some fighters.

Gagin indicated that chemical weapons have been used by the Ukrainian side for some time now, with attacks happening "along the entire front line as substances causing nausea, choking and coughing," and the chemicals being "sprayed from special containers installed on drones."

According to the World Health Organization, symptoms like dizziness, nausea, and coughing may be signs of exposure to potentially deadly nerve agents.

The official said some Ukrainian troops have been openly boasting of their possession of these illegal weapons online, posting videos of specially-designed drones and imported gas grenades on social media. Gagin urged for information about the use of these illegal weapons to be systematically gathered and sent to the United Nations.

Russian and Donbass forces began reporting on Ukraine's alleged plans to use chemical weapons last spring. At the Army-2022 expo outside Moscow last year, the Russian military demonstrated DJI Agras T30 unmanned aerial vehicles captured in Mariupol, as well as protective equipment including gas masks sent to Kiev by Germany and the Czech Republic as military aid. DJI drones are purpose-built for use in agriculture, and feature sprayer equipment as well as onboard cameras and navigation equipment.

In addition to concerns about chemical weapons being deployed against Russian troops, Moscow has regularly expressed concerns about these arms' potential use in provocations against critical infrastructure and civilians by Kiev to accuse Russia of war crimes.

Along with chemical weapons, the Russian military has regularly briefed officials, the public, and the international community on extensive US-funded and run pathogen research and bioweapons programs in Ukraine.

Ukraine and Russia are signatories to the Biological Weapons Convention and the Chemical Weapons Convention, with these treaties designed to severely restrict both countries' military biological and chemical weapons research and stockpiling activities. Russia dismantled the last of its Soviet-era chemical weapons stocks in 2017. Ukraine also had no declared chemical weapons stocks at this time.

Search underway for ways to protect troops from Ukrainian chemical weapons — DPR leader

A search for additional ways to protect troops from the chemical weapons that Ukrainian forces are using is underway in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), the region’s Acting Head Denis Pushilin said on Monday.

"We currently seek to equip our units [with chemical protection suits]. Then again, we have some of the things that we need but it’s not always comfortable to constantly wear chemical protection suits while in position. Certainly, it makes it harder for our forces to perform their missions so we are looking for additional ways to protect our troops," he told the Rossiya-24 TV channel.

Pushilin pointed out that experts had not yet had the chance to figure out what substances the Ukrainian forces were using. "They trigger coughing, followed by watery eyes and general discomfort," he said, describing the effect of the Ukrainian chemical weapons.

Yan Gagin, an advisor to the Donetsk People’s Republic’s (DPR) leader, said earlier that the Kiev regime’s forces had used chemical weapons along the Soledar and Artyomovsk frontlines on February 5. He stressed that it wasn’t the first time that Ukraine had used chemical weapons. Gagin added that the Ukrainian military made no secret that it had prohibited weapons, posting videos showing imported gas grenades and drones designed for discharging them. Pushilin said on Monday that evidence corroborating the use of chemical weapons by the Armed Forces of Ukraine had also been found along the Ugledar frontline.

Making the Case for War: 20 Years Ago, Colin Powell Lied to the UN

©AP Photo / Elise Amendola

On February 5, 2003, US Secretary of State Colin Powell addressed the UN Security Council that would go down in infamy. Over the course of a 76-minute briefing that was broadcast to millions across the world, Powell asserted that the US had ironclad evidence that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was covertly developing weapons of mass destruction.

“My colleagues, every statement I make today is backed up by solid sources,” he confidently declared. “These are not assertions. What we’re giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence.”

To bolster his case, Powell presented satellite photos, audio recordings of intercepted conversations between Iraqi soldiers, testimonies from high-level defectors, and even a tiny vial of white powder that was meant to serve as a symbol for Baghdad’s supposed anthrax program. At first glance, the evidence seemed both robust and dramatic.

There was only one glaring problem: None of it was true. The satellite images did not show what Powell claimed they did, while the audio recordings and testimonies were deliberately manipulated. More than 70 UN site inspections in Iraq over the preceding years had found absolutely no evidence that the country was developing chemical, nuclear, or biological weapons. Following the US invasion in March 2003, even the Bush administration was forced to admit that Iraq did not possess WMDs.

Although the truth eventually prevailed, it came at an extraordinarily high price. The Iraq War resulted in hundreds of thousands Iraqis dead and more than 9 million displaced, according to data from Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. Nearly twenty years after the US invasion, Iraq is still grappling with the sectarian and political violence unleashed by Washington’s military debacle.

How was the Bush administration able to sell a war based on dubious intelligence not only to the American people, but also to much of the international community? Perhaps even more importantly, did the US political and military leadership learn any lessons from its disastrous invasion? To answer these questions, Sputnik spoke to former Pentagon and State Department officials who witnessed firsthand the Bush administration’s drift to war and spoke out against it.

Anatomy of a Lie

The push for the US to invade Iraq began not long after President George W. Bush took office in January 2001, according to retired Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski, who served as a senior Middle East analyst for the Pentagon in the months leading up to the war.

She explained that shortly after Bush's inauguration, Vice President Dick Cheney began to staff the Pentagon, National Security Council, and the key US intelligence agencies with a large number of political appointees, most of whom came from neoconservative think tanks. These hawkish officials were longtime advocates of regime change in Iraq, arguing that such a move would allow the US to strengthen its control over the Middle East and “militarily” encircle neighboring Iran.

“The US also did not want to see any oil country go off the petrodollar, as Saddam had announced he was doing in late 2000,” she said. “When you are looking for any justification, truth and accurate intelligence really becomes a barrier, instead of an asset to the politicians.”

It was not long before the neoconservatives in the Bush administration launched a concerted campaign to lay the informational foundation for an invasion of Iraq. Kwiatkowski told Sputnik that beginning in August 2002, Middle East analysts such as herself were instructed not to contradict intelligence notices and briefings which suggested that Iraq was developing WMDs. Dissenters who expressed concerns about the veracity of these claims were fired. These dubious reports ended up not only on Bush's desk, but also on the front pages of the New York Times and the Washington Post.

“Classified bits and pieces -- cherry picked, unreliable, and often outrageously false -- were given to the contacts at these newspapers, and to the President's speechwriters, and incorporated into their domestic and global propaganda,” Kwiatkowski said. “This made it all seem believable to the 95% of the US population who in the early 2000's still trusted the US government.”

Even amid this formidable propaganda push, there were many in the highest echelons of Washington who had information contradicting the official narrative on Iraq. One of them was none other than Colin Powell.

In the months leading up to the invasion, Powell privately expressed his doubts about the Bush administration’s drift towards war to British Foreign Minister Jack Straw and his own chief of staff, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson. Just days before Powell’s infamous UN speech, the US Secretary of State received two memos from his intelligence staff that directly refuted many of the claims made in the presentation.

“I think Powell, as the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had reason to know the intelligence was fabricated at the time he gave the speech and I think he actually suspected that it was manufactured at the time he gave it but decided to give the speech anyway out of mostly political considerations,” said David T. Pyne, who served as the Middle East desk officer at the US Army headquarters staff from 2000-2003.

At the same time, Pyne stressed that even if Powell had genuinely believed that Iraq possessed WMDs, that still was not strong enough of a reason to invade the country. He explained that Iraq was too weakened after losing sixty percent of its military equipment and personnel in the First Gulf War of 1991 to pose much of a threat to its neighbors, let alone the US.

Pyne noted that many in the intelligence community shared his assessment of Iraq’s capabilities. “Having personally toured the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia and interviewed the then Director of the National Intelligence Council, John C. Gannon, in October 1999, I can tell you that Iraq was not even on their top five list of major threats at that time,” he said.

Although Powell decided to brush his reservations about Iraq aside, some lower ranking officials in the Pentagon and State Department chose not to remain silent. Both Kwiatkowski and Pyne published articles in the lead up to the Iraq War warning about the potential consequences of the invasion.

Another dissident was Ann Wright, a US diplomat who also served 29 years in the US army as a colonel. On March 19, 2003, just one day before the US sent troops into Iraq, Wright submitted her letter of resignation to Powell.

Lessons Learned?

Wright warned that there were many concerning parallels between the lead-up to the US invasion of Iraq and the Biden administration’s growing military involvement in Ukraine. She explained that just as opponents of the Iraq War were browbeat into silence, Ukraine skeptics are likewise being intimidated into towing the hawkish party line.

“There's a lot of controversy within the government itself on whether continuing to ratchet up the war by giving lots of weaponry to Ukraine or putting a great emphasis on ceasefire negotiations to stop the killing. Behind the scenes, there's a lot of dissent,” she said.

Wright expressed skepticism that the proponents of diplomacy would ultimately prevail in Washington since the US “always needs an enemy in order to keep the military industrial complex going,” noting that major campaign donors are involved in arms production.

Similar concerns were voiced by Kwiatkowski, who noted that Washington had undertaken no major reforms of the intelligence bureaucracies in the two decades following the Iraq invasion. At the same time, US human intelligence gathering resources are actually weaker today than they were in 2003. Finally, the US government’s growing control over news reporting and social media means that it is becoming even more difficult for Americans to access objective information about international developments.

“There is a vast difference between the reporting from the Pentagon via Defense Intelligence Agency and presumably other US intelligence agencies and the actual events and progress of the war on the ground in Ukraine,” Kwiatkowski said. “Where are the dissenters, and where is the human intelligence on the ground -- and how is what they are observing reaching US political leadership?”