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Powerful Earthquake And Aftershocks Rick Turkey; At Least Five Dead After Major Earthquake Rocks Turkey; U.S. Geological Survey 7.8 Magnitude Quake Hit Early Monday Local Time; At Least 17 Dead After Major Earthquake Rocks Turkey; Aired 10-11p ET
Aired February 05, 2023 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[22:00:00]
LAILA HARRAK, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Absolutely. I mean, this is so fluid and it's reverberating across the region as you are reporting. Of course, a very tense moment now, because strong aftershocks are expected to continue in the hours ahead.
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And, you know, the concern is always when you are in this situation after an earthquake, you have authorities telling people not to panic. Leave your homes, stay outside, but do not panic. There's always the concern about people panicking. And in many cases, you hear from authorities here that when you have these major earthquakes that a lot of the casualties as well come from people panicking and this is -- this is a big thing right now, as you mentioned, 6.7 magnitude aftershock and several others recorded, according to our colleague, in Gaziantep, saying he felt at least eight aftershocks, 6.7 being the strongest, so far.
So we'll have to wait and see later what more we learned in the coming minutes and hours.
HARRAK: And we saw -- we saw already some dramatic footage of collapsed buildings. How has Turkey managed in the past with other big earthquakes?
KARADSHEH: You know, there's always been this -- authorities have always been under pressure to prepare their cities to deal with these earthquakes to ensure that buildings are up to earthquake standards. There's always the concern that cities are not ready to deal with this. So you're constantly seeing, you know, different cities preparing for an earthquake.
This is a country that is no stranger to these major earthquakes over the years that have killed thousands and have destroyed cities. So we'll have to wait and see, you know, we're talking about a city like Gaziantep, where there would be a lot of old buildings as well in southern Turkey and in that, Laila.
HARRAK: I mean, it's -- we're looking at footage right now as you're reporting, I mean, it's dark, it's the middle of the night, it's in -- I mean, it's early in the morning, but still it's going to hamper search and rescue efforts that are underway. Tell us a little bit more about the area, Jomana. Is it densely populated?
KARADSHEH: Well, we're going to have to find out a bit more about the areas that are impacted in Gaziantep Province. This is, of course, a major city in southern Turkey, bordering Syria. And we are still waiting to hear.
I mean, we're starting to see that a lot of people have rushed outside their homes, reports that there are -- there's a lot of traffic on the streets as people are panicking right now. And we're just seeing constantly aftershock, aftershock, coming in reports from the country's disaster management agencies.
They are trained to deal with this. They have dealt with many earthquakes over the years. But as you mentioned, it is almost six o'clock in the morning. This happening between 4:00 and 5:00 A.M. this morning. That is going to be challenging. People are in their homes. People are sleeping when something like this happens. It's going to make that even more challenging.
And, of course, the weather conditions. Gaziantep, over the past few days, has been hit by a snow storm. The rest of the country as well being impacted by this. So we'll have to wait and see how they're going to be able to get people who need it into shelters. We have to wait and see the extent of the damage from this earthquake and how many people have been impacted.
But Turkish authorities, Laila, unfortunately have dealt with this so many times, that they will have a pretty urgent and fast response to this sort of a situation.
HARRAK: And we're looking at the map right now. And it's -- I mean, it hits the south eastern border with Syria. And obviously, you know, probably on the other side of that border, they might not be that well prepared.
KARADSHEH: No, absolutely. I mean, this is again, another concern right now for what might be happening across the border as well in Syria, as we mentioned. I mean, this is an earthquake that was so powerful that it was felt in several countries across this region.
And so the concern right now is for northern Syria, what sort of an impact has been the sort of impact it has had on that part of the country where you're talking about hundreds of thousands of people displaced from their homes on that border. We've seen videos coming out in, you know, over the past 24 hours or so with people living in really dire conditions.
Again, another very cold freezing winter for people who have absolutely nothing living in the camps in northern Syria. So you can imagine now that a lot of aid agencies, as well, will be preparing to see and assess what sort of damage and what sort of needs there are going to be on the ground there. I mean, in the best of times, it's always challenging to provide aid and support to these displaced people. So you can imagine in a situation like this, aid agencies will be pretty much looking into the situation right now to see what sort of needs there are and what they need to be doing.
[22:05:25]
HARRAK: Jomana Karadsheh, for now, thank you so much for those breaking details. We'll check in with you in a moment. But for now, thanks a lot for your reporting.
And joining me now from Turkey, near where this quake hits is journalist, Eyad Kourdi. Eyad, you're joining us on the line. Can you hear me?
EYAD KOURDI, JOURNALIST: Yes, I can hear you well.
HARRAK: So good to have you with us. Please tell us. What are you seeing?
KOURDI: So basically now, it's a lot of people are on the streets. Most of my -- can you hear me?
HARRAK: Yes. Go ahead, Eyad. Eyad, we can hear you. Go ahead.
KOURDI: Yes. So basically -- sorry. Repeating now. I hope you can hear me, Laila. Can you hear me?
HARRAK: Yes, go ahead. Eyad, we can hear you.
KOURDI: OK. So basically, people are on the streets, still, staying open areas. There's heavy rain happening now in my neighborhood where I live in Gaziantep [inaudible] a single person from the neighbors went back to the building.
At 4:19 A.M, the earthquake started, I was awake outside. For the first three seconds, it was like a light shake. So I thought, yes, maybe it's just one of those light earthquakes that we see normally, we feel normally once every couple of months in Gaziantep.
And then like after that, it became so shaky. I was thinking my parent's house, they woke up, they were asleep. They started to shout. I tried to shout to them and stay under the doors, stay under the doors. And I was trying to confer -- like to confront them, like, oh, sorry, I was trying to calm them down, telling them, please be calm. Stay under the door. And I was telling them, like, it's going to be over soon, it's going to be over soon, but it felt like it will never be over. [inaudible]
I believe a lot of stuff got broken in my house like furniture, electronics. And then we -- when we get start [inaudible] we run out of the buildings, with all pajamas and slippers literally. And already, there was nearly five centimeters long snow, and we gathered on the ground and it was raining heavily.
So stayed out of the building with the neighbors for about 30 minutes. And then I went back to the building got some coats, boots and went back out. Now, my family was staying in a car, in open areas, open space. Electricity is still working. We have water cuts in our neighborhoods, but I think that's not the priority now. And also like we have some difficulties in communication. It has been a little bit over the last hour.
We felt -- I counted 11 aftershocks. The strongest one was like 20 minutes after the first earthquake, I believe. And basically, it has not -- there has not been -- there has not been an aftershock in the last four to eight minutes, I would say.
HARRAK: And, Eyad, as you're -- as you're reporting and sharing what you're seeing with the -- your experiences, we're watching footage from Gaziantep per province and people -- obviously, there's a search and rescue operation are taking place, but it looks like a massive building came down.
Can you tell us a little bit more in terms of what you're seeing in terms of damage?
KOURDI: So in terms of the damage, here's the thing, Turkey is not strange to earthquakes. So in Turkey most of the new -- most of the newly built buildings are, like, under the requirements for being able to handle earthquakes.
In the [inaudible] I was in. I did not move -- I moved for like -- I moved for about -- I walked for like two kilometers away from it, but I did not see any buildings that were cracked or destroyed. But I've seen some photos from the old [inaudible] of Gaziantep that's where it was damaged. I did not hear any ones who got injured or that in my neighborhood.
But I've heard a lot of ambulances. I counted nine so far. I've heard also a couple of -- I've seen also a couple of firefighting trucks. But for now in Gaziantep where I am -- where I'm staying, which is approximately to the western side of Gaziantep. I haven't seen any kind of casualties [inaudible]
[22:10:07]
HARRAK: What we're seeing now scenes of really major devastation and probably a lot of people would have been asleep, obviously, at the time that this took place. And they were going to try and get them, rescue them.
But in terms of -- in terms of the first responders, how quickly were they at the scene?
KOURDI: I mean, I heard the first ambulances really six minutes after the earthquake. When like I -- when I run out, the first ambulance was about five minutes after the earthquake. I also like the lights, something, because it's now around 6:00 A.M. in the morning. Like they kept the lights on, on the streets, which is normally they don't do. Normally, they'd like to turn them off because the sun is rising a little bit.
But that's all what I saw in terms of the -- of the reaction or the response in where I was. But to be frank, like, I was -- I was impressed by the [inaudible] which we not -- I did not expect it to last as long. I was, like, the last few seconds, I sent an -- I sent a voice clip for friends, and I was telling them, oh, I am in Gaziantep and I was [inaudible] five seconds and I kept saying, and I'm like die.
And it's actually had enough. And we were staying outside. We have been told by the government of Gaziantep to stay in open places and avoid panicking and avoiding the -- like getting into cars and moving in the -- in cars. So we're following this, and we're waiting for more formal announcements from the officials here in Turkey.
HARRAK: Eyad, we seem to have gotten news that at least five people are dead. And as you probably know better than anyone else at all, is probably likely going to rise in the hours ahead. This area is particularly prone to earthquakes, I'm told. Eyad?
Unfortunately, I think we lost Eyad Kourdi right now. He came to us from Gaziantep telling us what he saw.
Next, we -- next, we're going, I'm told, we're going to talk to a supervising meteorologist, Brandon Miller. Brandon, you're joining us on the phone. Thank you so much. A 7.9 earthquake, that is really significant.
BRANDON MILLER, CNN SUPERVISING METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it is. And I heard the question you were just asking about this part of Turkey being, you know, prone to earthquakes. And it's true, they're certainly no strangers to shaking, but of this magnitude, especially this part of Southern Turkey, this is like nothing that anyone alive has ever felt before.
The -- you know, with CNN weather here, we're obviously covering earthquakes all over the world, you know, all the time. And when we see one of this magnitude, it certainly gets your attention. We start to look at some of the -- some of the statistics and how they sort of measure up.
And, you know, 7.8 earthquake, you only get a handful of those every year anywhere on the planet. You know, most of them tend to occur very deep in the ground. And they're not felt by a lot of people. This one was very shallow, only 17 kilometers of depth, so that's going to be felt by a lot of people.
You know, it's farther outside than just Turkey. We -- and we're seeing reports of people feeling this earthquake in Syria, in Israel, and probably even farther away than that, but very close to the epicenter. This would have been extremely intense shaking, the kind that, you know, as we saw in some of these pictures, very capable of bringing down buildings, even some fairly well made structures.
But people in this area largely reside in structures that are very vulnerable to shaking, and we see that the USGS, which is where we look for the United States Geological Service, and their network of seismographs all over the world, bringing these measurements and looking back through their records. This would probably tie for the strongest earthquake anywhere in Turkey in the last 100 years or more of records with one back in 1939. So like I said, no one in this area has felt an earthquake like this in their entire life.
[22:15:03] And we've already seen numerous major aftershocks, 6.7, 5.6. Those are massive earthquakes on their own, and they occurred just 10, 15, 20 minutes after the major shock. And those are going to continue. They're going to continue for hours. They'll continue for days, you know, following an earthquake, like a 7.8 magnitude.
The other thing to mention, you know, this happened in the middle of the night, basically, around 4:00 A.M. local time. Now, we're starting to get a little later in the morning, you know, the sun will be coming up here before long. I think that's going to shine some light on some pretty massive devastation.
But it also makes it even more dangerous when they happen in the middle of the night. People, you know, are often asleep, obviously, and cannot get to maybe some structures that are going to fare a little better. So I think, you know, obviously, you said when you let into me, there were obviously some already fatalities reported. And I'm afraid that numbers are likely going to go a lot higher, just based on, you know, historical earthquakes of this magnitude.
HARRAK: Brandon, you're calling it a historic earthquake. I mean, that's saying something for a country that is, unfortunately, seen many earthquakes with devastating effects. The hours and days ahead, what will you be looking out for? What will first responders be looking out for?
MILLER: Yes. So, you know, one thing they have to be on the lookout for is more earthquakes, more aftershocks. Generally with a 7.8, you're going to have at least one, maybe two or three earthquakes of 6.0 or greater. Like I said, we are already seeing one. I'm checking right now to see if there's been any more. There was a 5.2 here just within the last 30 minutes. You know, a 5.2 earthquake is a fairly significant earthquake on its own. That's going to wake you if you were asleep. Of course, no one in this area is asleep at this point. But that's how strong the 5.2 would be.
When you have it occurring after a major 7.8, things are already shaken up, buildings are already, you know, more vulnerable to falling than they were previous. So each one can just, you know, get a structure that maybe hasn't fallen yet, but it's on the verge or, you know, a floor that's maybe still steady, you could see that fall.
And so that's something that first responders have to be very wary of, you know, you hear someone in there, you want to go, you need to go get that person out. They may be trapped, but you have to be aware of your surroundings and know what could be coming at any second, another major aftershock.
And they don't -- you know, they do tail off an intensity and frequency over time, but it's by no means linear. So you -- we can easily see another 6.5, you know, in a few hours and even in a few days. So you don't know that things are going to get better from an aftershock perspective. So that's certainly something that first responders they know. And, you know, that's a risk that, of course, you know, they will take to save those that are no doubt trapped in this rubble. HARRAK: And we have since heard from the governor and recording and missing that at least five people have died after this magnitude 7.8 earthquake. And he says that at least 34 buildings collapsed. This is just information just coming in that we're reporting on.
And the Reuters is quoting a witness saying that the earthquake lasted about a minute. Wow. If an earthquake that lasts a minute can cause this much damage. I mean, it just goes to your point at, you know, how powerful it is.
MILLER: Yes, indeed. You know, a minute doesn't sound like a really long time, but I imagined to those that were feeling it that that minute seems like it lasts forever. And then just 11 minutes later, that first big aftershock occurred. So no sooner does the shaking stop, you can kind of get your wits about you, no doubt you may have been sleeping at 4:15 in the morning. You probably run outside, start to look around, you know, check on your family members or loved ones and then the shaking starts again, and 6.7 is a very intense earthquake. You know, so -- and then about 10 minutes later a 5.6. So, it is, it's one after another after another and that will sadly continue, you know, well into tomorrow through the day with more of these aftershocks to occur.
[22:20:03]
But, yes, it is -- it is amazing, you know, the -- how everything can change in just that one minute when these massive earthquakes occur, for sure.
And another thing, you'll see in these pictures, people are very bundled up. It's quite cold here. You know, it's February, it's a cold time of the year, but temperatures are even a little bit lower than they would normally be.
We even saw some snow in the region, northern Syria, southern Turkey earlier. This is, of course, an area where there's a lot of Syrian refugee camps, and the snow has been impacting them. We actually reported on earlier in the day. So, you know, in this location where these buildings are, there's obviously a lot of damage, but there were a lot of other cities impacted by this earthquake as well and towns and rural villages that, no doubt, felt even stronger shaking as they were closer to the epicenter, some of them.
HARRAK: Brandon Miller, Supervising Meteorologist. Brandon, thank you so much for all that information. We'll check in with you later.
I want to take us now back to Turkey to Jomana Karadsheh who is standing by. Jomana, I understand the Turkish president has reacted?
KARADSHEH: Yes, he has saying his thoughts with the people, Laila. We are starting to get a lot more information coming in now as you would expect. At least five people have been confirmed killed and at least 34 buildings have collapsed, that is in one province. According to Turkish authorities, at least 10 provinces across South Eastern Turkey has been impacted by the earthquake. We are still waiting to hear more information about the extent of the damage, but it is not looking good right now, Laila, as we are starting to get more and more information coming from Turkish officials. The interior minister, Suleyman Soylu, a short time ago, speaking on state TV saying that this is their priority right now. The first task is search and rescue, he said. He's describing this as a level four alarm, which includes receiving help internationally.
I mean, this is major, Laila. This is a country that has dealt with earthquakes over the years, but a 7.8 earthquake, as we have been reporting, as Brandon there was describing something that no one has felt in this country before, as he mentioned in our lifetime, at least.
And we're starting to slowly get more and more information about the extent of the damage felt across 10 provinces in southeastern Turkey. We'll have to wait and see what impact it has had on different cities, different towns across the -- that part of the country.
But as we're hearing from Turkish officials, they're describing this as a level four alarm, they are mobilizing their disaster management agencies. Search and rescue right now, obviously, their priority.
But as we mentioned earlier, Laila, it is in the middle of the night, this happening at about four o'clock this morning, people asleep. And we are in the middle of this winter storm that has impacted much of Turkey. A lot of that impact as well in southern Turkey over the past few days.
Snow -- the rain right now, the winds, this is going to be a very, very challenging search and rescue operation for Turkish authorities who are very experienced in dealing with this kind of situation. But you now have the interior minister saying that this is the sort of situation where they are going to be requesting international support, Laila.
HARRAK: And the scary thing, of course, for all those people impacted in the impacted area will have to spend the rest of the night, the morning, the days ahead outside. Or will there be shelter for them?
KARADSHEH: And this is what we'll wait to hear from Turkish authorities. I mean, we heard from the governor of one of the provinces earlier telling people, of course, the first thing they should do when an earthquake like this hits is to be outside their building, saying, stay outside, do not panic.
And now we'll have to wait and see what sort of shelter is going to be provided. I mean, this is going to be a huge task search and rescue, setting up shelters, dealing with the impact and casualties and we're talking about many, many cities and provinces across southeastern Turkey. At least 10 provinces impacted right now, one of those provinces recording at least 34 buildings that have collapsed at least.
And so we'll have to wait. I mean, in the last few moments, also, Laila, we're hearing from the president of Turkey's Red Crescent, too, they're saying that they're shipping additional blood to the earthquake region. We have national lab blood stops for the first stage of the shipment in the regional blood banks. However, we invite our citizens to donate blood throughout Turkey during the day for additional needs that may occur in the future. So they are preparing for the worst right now.
[22:25:15]
HARRAK: Preparing for the worst devastating scenes emerging from the epicenter. But, obviously, people in Syria also bracing there because we don't know, you know, how they're going to deal with this situation?
KARADSHEH: Absolutely. So a lot of concern right now, of course, Turkey will be dealing with the situation here. They are -- you know, we're talking about a country like Turkey, that has all the resources, it needs to deal with a situation like this that has the experience to deal with something like this, then you have the concern, of course, about what may have happened in northern Syria as well.
I mean, this earthquake was so huge, Laila, that it was felt across this region. We are hearing from people in Iraq, in Lebanon, in Jordan, in Syria, who have felt the impact of this massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake.
So the concern right now, of course, I would assume that aid agencies are going to be right now mobilizing to assess what may have happened in northern Syria, of course, a lot of camps for displaced people in that part of the country in Aleppo Province and elsewhere, which have relied a lot on Turkish support as well. Turkish agencies provide support in there as well.
But you would assume right now that they are going to be - when it comes to these Turkish aid agencies, they are going to be dealing with a lot at home. So right now, international aid agencies would have to be looking at the impact in Syria, on these camps as well, where you have people who have nothing really living in shelters like tents in the middle of this winter storm.
We've seen video and pictures over the past few days of snow covered IDP camps in that area. And now you have this. So we'll have to wait and see what we hear from international aid agencies on the impact. And the extent of the damage in that part of the country.
Of course, the priority is going to be trying to provide support for people across those 10 provinces here in Turkey, as we've heard from the Turkish interior minister, they are going to require international support, as well as assessing the damage and the situation across the border in Syria as well. Laila.
HARRAK: And, Jomana, Gaziantep, of course, in the area around Gaziantep is home to millions, I'm told, of Syrian refugees. So we don't -- where are they housed?
KARADSHEH: Well, I mean, if we're talking about Gaziantep, Laila, this is a -- you know, Adana and Gaziantep [inaudible] and all these different cities, these are cities bordering Syria. So you do have a large population of Syrian refugees in this country who are part of the population, essentially.
So, of course, the concern is going to be for Turkish citizens, as well as Syrian refugees who live in these areas as well. We are talking about major cities, but as well, there's going to be a lot of concern about remote villages and towns that have may have also been impacted.
So we have to wait and see what Turkish authorities say about the situation. I mean, you know, as we were discussing earlier, a lot of cities in this country have been preparing for major earthquakes. This is a country that has dealt with many devastating earthquakes over the years, but there's always this concern that they are not fully ready.
There's always this concern that you -- that, you know, while buildings have to be built up to earthquake standards, that's not the case in these cities where you have these old structures. And we are starting to see, as you mentioned, images starting to come out of destroyed buildings, state T.V., showing in one city, people being pulled out of the rubbles. So we'll have to wait and see the extent of the damage as we mentioned, Laila.
But no matter how prepared a country is to deal with this, this is a 7.8 magnitude earthquake that has been felt across Turkey and across this region. So you can imagine the sort of devastation this may have left.
HARRAK: Right. I mean, we were seeing the devastation right now. As you're reporting, residential buildings -- look like residential buildings that completely collapsed. It looks like these buildings are quite vulnerable in that area. I'm not very quake proof despite the fact that this area is very quake prone.
KARADSHEH: You're going to have a lot of old buildings, old structures in this part of the country, you know, and, of course, that is the concern. And this is why you have the country's disaster management agencies that is the concern. And this is why you have the country's disaster management agencies that are so experienced, Laila. They have dealt with earthquakes.
[22:30:13]
They are the first to deploy to major earthquakes around the country. They have dealt with so many not only in Turkey, but around the world. They are going to have the tough task of dealing with the devastation right now that is across all these different parts of southeastern Turkey. You're talking about different cities, different towns, different sort of structures. And we're talking about very challenging weather conditions as well right now with this winter storm that is impacting the country. So very, very difficult hours and potentially days ahead for Turkish authorities as they deal with this.
As we've heard, they are -- they are preparing for the worst. We have heard from the Turkish interior minister saying that this is a level four alarm, as he described it, that they are going to be asking for international support. You've got the head of the Turkish Red Crescent, as well, saying that they are calling on people to donate blood and to prepare to send that to the earthquake zone.
And I can tell you in the last few minutes, Laila, we're also getting new information from the governor of Sanliurfa Province, another province in southeastern Turkey, telling CNN affiliate, CNN Turkey, that at least 12 people have died in the province. This brings the total death toll so far to at least 17 people.
So we're starting to get information coming in from one province after the other reporting the various death tolls of this devastating quake. At least 17 people, so far. And in this one province. They're reporting at least 18 buildings that have collapsed. We've also heard from another province saying that 34 buildings have collapsed.
So this is a major, major devastating earthquake from what it seems right now from this information that we are getting, Laila, from Turkish authorities.
HARRAK: Sadly, we're expecting, of course, the toll to rise. It's a very densely populated area.
KARADSHEH: Absolutely. I mean, we are talking, if you look at the extent of the impact, we're talking about 10 provinces, you're talking about millions of citizens in this country of more than 86 million people. So we are talking about different provinces, different cities, densely populated, then you've also got the concern, of course.
I mean, you can see the weather right now, we are in the middle of this winter storm that is impacting the country. So you can imagine what people are going through right now in these areas in southern Turkey and southeastern Turkey, where people have been told to, as you're always are, during these times of earthquakes, to wait outside their homes, not to panic.
But imagining this kind of weather that is impacting the country right now, making it very challenging for authorities to deal with what they say is their top priority. Now there's search and rescue as well as the population, the people who are now without shelter waiting outdoors.
As we reported earlier, several powerful aftershocks have been felt across that part of the country, 6.7 aftershock was the strongest, we understand so far, but several others, our colleague, Eyad Kourdi, in the city of Gaziantep. They are reporting -- he felt at least eight aftershocks.
So this is a very, very difficult time for this country. We're waiting daybreak. Of course, this is going to give us a bit more of an idea about the extent of the devastation and damage that has been left by this earthquake, as we've heard from Turkish authorities, Laila, their top priority now is search and rescue, and they are going to be requesting international support in dealing with this major, major earthquake.
HARRAK: I was going to ask you about that, Jomana, because you were reporting earlier that Turkey is ready to accept any offer -- any offers of international help. Does it usually turn to other countries for help during these types of the catastrophic events?
KARADSHEH: I mean, if you look at previous earthquakes, we've seen nothing like this so far. I mean, to be honest with you, we have been trying to figure out what was the strongest earthquake before this one, it was years ago, since -- it's been years since Turkey has had to deal with this sort of powerful earthquake.
But I can tell you, I've been in this --
HARRAK: Where are they in Turkey? Where are they?
KARADSHEH: -- country for five years, Laila, and every year since -- I'm sorry?
[22:35:03]
HARRAK: Go ahead.
KARADSHEH: I mean, I've been here for five years, Laila. And over the past five years, there's been an earthquake that has hit this country or more than one earthquake a year since I've been here, but nothing, nothing on this scale.
Turkish authorities, their search and rescue, their disaster and emergency agency, AFAD, has always prepared for the worst and has dealt with some of the -- some major earthquakes over the years. But this appears to be really something that they probably haven't dealt with in decades. I mean, at least from what we are hearing right now. We're still going to have to wait and see what authorities say about the extent of the damage.
But early reports that are coming into us, this information that we're starting to get, Laila, it is not looking good. We are talking about at least 10 provinces across southeastern Turkey that have felt this and we are slowly starting to get information emerging from each of these provinces about the damage, the devastation and the, unfortunately, the death toll that is beginning to rise.
And this is, again, early hours right now. It is 6:30 in the morning here. It's been less than or just over two hours, around two hours since this earthquake has hit and we are starting to get the information and reports of the extent of damage left by this major earthquake.
HARRAK: Jomana, apologies. That question was actually not meant for you. It was meant for my executive producer.
So in terms of -- what are we expecting to happen in the -- in the next couple of hours?
KARADSHEH: As we've heard from the Turkish interior minister, right now, the priority, of course, is search and rescue. And they're going to have to assess the damage, assess the needs, what sort of support they're going to need, whether it's in the search and rescue operations, or providing medical support for the -- for the casualties of this earthquake, providing shelter for people who have been left with no shelter, people who are outside right now, because of these powerful aftershocks that have also impacted the area.
But I can tell you, this is a country that has dealt with many disasters over the years. It is always ready to deal with this sort of an event. But again, this is something that -- no matter how prepared you are for something like this, it is going to be very challenging, and it could probably couldn't have happened at a worst time right in the middle of a winter storm that is impacting so many parts of the country.
Snow in southeastern Turkey, in several provinces there over the past few days. Heavy snowfall, the rain, the -- you know, this is -- this is going to be very challenging for rescue workers as they begin this search and rescue operation with daybreak here shortly.
And, of course, for the people impacted in those areas who have either been left with no shelter or are outside in the aftermath as these aftershocks continue to shake these different cities and towns across southeastern Turkey, Laila.
HARRAK: Jomana Karadsheh, thank you so very much for reporting there on breaking developments, a powerful earthquake that has struck the Gaziantep area. Thank you so much for now. We'll catch up with you a little later.
And I want to turn now to Asli Aydintasbas. She is a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution and she joins us now live from Washington, D.C. She's on the line. Thank you so much for being with us. I understand that you have family in the impacted region. What are they telling you? Are they safe?
ASLI AYDINTASBAS, VISITING FELLOW, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: Hi, Laila. I actually don't have family in the impacted region, but I am watching what is happening on Turkish news and just heard the Ministry of Interior, I was also in Turkey when the last major earthquake took place, which was 1999 of the same magnitude and that led to the deaths of 30,000 people.
Now, they -- this one also seems to have a similar magnitude. And unfortunately, all expectations are that this two will be very costly in terms of human life. We don't have a full picture yet, but it is the case that people have felt the earthquake from the Black Sea all the way to Damascus. And that tells you that a very densely populated, an ancient part of the world is hit by earthquake once again.
[22:40:06]
Turkey is historically at the crossroads of various fault lines. And there has been an expectation for a big earthquake for a number of years for at least two decades. But that was thought to be the expectation was that that would happen take place in Istanbul. This is certainly the other fault line and is going to be equally I think, devastating.
HARRAK: Can you tell us a little bit about the area where the epicenter of the earthquake has been?
AYDINTASBAS: So we're talking about the area where Turkish borders have adjacent to Syria, Turkish-Syrian border, where you have a number of cities, small size or medium sized cities, but you also have refugees, you also have an ethnic mix of, you know, Turks of Sunni background, Alawites background, or Kurdish, Turkish citizens of Kurdish background, and Syrian refugees.
So actually, some of these areas also rather poor, some are more richer urban areas, like parts of Gaziantep. But other parts that we're talking about that seem to have been devastated are relatively lower income areas.
And as always, this is -- this is a natural disaster, but part of the -- part of the tragedy comes from human error in terms of building construction. And actually, buildings where contractors do not really go with Turkey's building codes, because the truth is in -- after a devastating earthquake in 1999, Turkey had really changed its building laws and regulations and forcing contractors and architects to build earthquake-proof residential buildings, particularly in residential areas, and this was a big focus during Turkey's accession process with the E.U.
But these things, you know, when there isn't enough focus, they tend to taper off. There isn't as much -- there hasn't been as much concentration on quality of materials and enforcing building codes over the last five, six years, Turkey is no longer really dead set on its E.U. track. And you also have a country that has a severe economic downturn, which means people are, you know, willing to be a bit less than perfect in construction business.
So I think that is a huge part of the problem because you can see in your footage and some of the footage that is coming out, building -- one building standing still, and the next one is entirely gone. And that can only be, you know, a human error, which is why this is so sad.
But this part of the country is not the richest part of Turkey. It's a mix. It's also a part of the country, while, you know, that's definitely a warmer climate, the northern parts of Istanbul has been experiencing a cold dry -- a cold front. They have snow in many parts of southern Turkey, in southeastern Turkey.
People have to leave their buildings right now. They can't go in. And, you know, when you are -- I don't know if you've ever been in an earthquake, but when you do, you run out of the building, you stay out but you always want to go back in to get your phone or get your wallet or something or maybe some water or you left in a hurry and you're in your slippers or you need a coat et cetera. There are announcements being made, urging people not to go and not to go into pick up because you constantly have, you know, remnants -- smaller tremors continuing and they can be very deadly as well.
When we say -- when I say tall -- too small, it's still been in the magnitude of six something over the past hour. So that is a pretty dire situation, even for the standards of -- even by standards of a country that is somewhat used to earthquakes.
HARRAK: And, you know, we were talking to our supervising meteorologists, and he was saying, you know, that the size of this earthquake, I mean it is historic. He says, we don't often see this, even in a country, unfortunately and sadly like Turkey, which has had its unfortunate share of earthquakes.
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And it's been described as well as severe and long-lasting, this quake, you know, and describing what you just described in terms of the building's not being quake proof, I mean, people would not have had a chance to get to safety.
AYDINTASBAS: That's right. I mean, even by Turkey standards, this is big. This is the land of earthquake Anatolia, the peninsula, the turkeys on, that's where the story of Noah's Ark is coming from. And that story itself, mythological tale is supposed to be about an earthquake.
So nobody's a stranger to earthquake in Turkey as -- certainly in terms of in terms of public fears, there was the expectation of another earthquake, but this one was very long. And the reach of it, I have heard from people who said their loved ones in Damascus. Damascus in Syria have felt it. So we're talking and we're looking into something very big.
And certainly what I'm seeing on Turkish accounts right now, and people who are speaking to the phone is, who's speaking to Turkish networks is, you know, some people are describing shaking that lasts almost a minute. That is terrifying and devastating for an earthquake.
HARRAK: Asli Aydintasbas, thank you very much for joining us.
AYDINTASBAS: Thank you.
HARRAK: Let's bring in now with Zhigang Peng, he is a Geophysics Professor at Georgia Tech and joins me on the phone.
Professor, it's good to have you. I'm hoping that you can put this into perspective for us. We've already, you know, heard that the size of this quake is really -- I mean, it's not just huge, it's historic.
ZHIGANG PENG, GEOPHYSICS PROFESSOR, GEORGIA TECH: That's right, as you probably have heard, that this event is probably one of the largest that occurred in Turkey and, you know, in the Middle East region in the past probably 30 or 40 years. And not only this event, you know, this magnitude size is close to eight, but it also we believe that it occurred either on the East Anatolian Fault or the Dead Sea Transform Fault. Each of those are able to generate this sort of sheering motion, which sometimes is even as large as this can generate big waves that can be felt hundreds or sometimes some kilometers away.
HARRAK: And this is, of course, this quake, the epicenter hits a major population center. And we were expecting -- I mean, it makes us particularly potentially very deadly. PENG: Absolutely. And like I mentioned that, you know, the current estimate that, unfortunately, probably up to millions people have felt and, you know, we probably would expect casualties on the order of about a few 100 or up to [inaudible] or so.
Then not only this event is itself is large as you probably can expect that there will be also continuing aftershocks in this region. Anything so probably have failed or we have -- there's reports of a close to 97 aftershocks. And aftershocks typically would last for weeks or sometimes months and sometimes you may have large aftershocks still. So this region is going to continue to experience the aftermath of this devastating event.
HARRAK: And, Professor, because of the magnitude of this quake, it is reverberating wide and far.
PENG: Absolutely. Like we've just discussed that the regions that probably can feel this event strongly can go probably down to Syria, and probably they felt in Turkey and in the Middle East regions. But the actual wave itself was -- can propagate around the globe for, you know, sometimes multiple times.
And what was actually quite interesting is tonight, I was actually in a different place that was not in Atlanta. I was actually in Columbia, in South Carolina. We're actually was doing a seismic experiment. So while the event was unfolding, I was actually talking with my student and we were actually watching the wiggles and see how the seismic event waves swept through around the entire globe. Of course, you know, in the United States or other regions, the wave MTTB is too small so you won't be able to feel the shaking by itself, but the sensitive sensors around the globe can pick up this event.
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HARRAK: And, Professor, can you recall a quake of this magnitude or bigger happening in the world?
PENG: Oh, yes. I mean, the event actually with this size typically occur, I would say maybe on the order of about, you know, a few per year. I can give a few examples, but one example that occurred in Turkey, which actually was slightly smaller, I believe that the magnitude 7.4, something occurred in 1999, in a region called Izmit, that's actually a little bit south of -- south east of Istanbul.
And then three months later, was followed by another magnitude 7.1 earthquake. Now, both events occur in another fault, which would called as North Anatolian Fault, and those even pretty significant damage and casualties. So, of course, the size of the event is actually smaller than those two events, but they also occurred in a very popular region. So they don't even actually cause significant damages.
I can give you another example, for example, other event with similar magnitudes occurred in [inaudible] in China. That's where I grew up. It's got the magnitude -- 7.9 is the magnitude. It's the Wenchuan earthquake. And I believe that event has up to about 80,000 casualty as well. So even with such magnitude are, unfortunately, is expected to produce significant damages and casualties.
HARRAK: Indeed. And what we're hearing, as well as that the Turkish Red Cross is now were mobilizing resources for the region, as it's receiving information of more serious damage and collapsed buildings.
Professor, what will happen in the hours to come? I mean, do we know in terms of aftershocks?
PENG: Yes. Like, I already mentioned that, you know, so far, we already have seen reports from this region, that largest aftershock is, you know, I believes 6.8 or close to 7. On average, again, and we're just talking about statistically on average with magnitude of 7.8 or so, we will probably expect, you know, maybe close to seven type aftershocks, which of course, this occurred.
And then you would expect to see, based on the so-called, you know, some empirical relationship that we expect to see maybe 10 of 96 and 195 or so keep going forever, for a long time. But the -- on the other hand, you know, there's sometimes you may have a very small chance that sometimes you may really follow by larger aftershocks, or sometimes even larger. The aftershock could be even larger than the event itself. Now, this probability is very small, but it's not zero.
HARRAK: It's not zero, indeed. What would you advise the first responders, not the first responders, but especially in terms of Turkish -- the Turkish disaster and emergency management authority very experienced, but, you know, just right across the border, you've got Syria. The shocks, I understand, have also been felt in Lebanon, which doesn't have the same resources as Turkey has.
PENG: Yes. I believe that at this point that, obviously, the most of the resources should be focused near the epicenter, because that's where most of the damages have occurred. I think there'll be interesting -- and then things that hopefully they averted looking to this is that even though the center is kind of near the south, near the epicenter near the border, might be worse than look at and, you know, and try to find out how wide or how long this event occurred.
But what surprised me a little bit, as far as talking with you, I'm looking at the screen right now, is that I've started to see some events that occurred about maybe 150 to 200 kilometers away from the epicenter further north east.
Now, it's hard to, for me to tell whether or not those events are occurring on the same -- events on fault region or not, but I think it's worse to look at other nearby regions.
HARRAK: All right. Professor Zhigang Peng, thank you very, very much for joining us.
PENG: You're welcome.
HARRAK: I want to go back now to CNN's Jomana Karadsheh for the latest. Jomana, any more information that you've received?
KARADSHEH: Well, Laila, as we have been reporting so far, the death toll has reached at least 17 people who've been killed so far as a result of this massive earthquake that has hit southeastern Turkey. We are still waiting to hear from the various provinces that have been impacted at least 10 provinces, according to Turkish authorities. Reports a merging of buildings destroyed. One province recording at least 34 buildings.
[22:55:15]
Also others reporting and we're hearing from Syria, Laila, I'm just getting this information as we're starting to get this multiple buildings. According to the Syrian state news agency, multiple buildings have been reported to have collapsed in Syria after this powerful earthquake.
According to the state news agency, they say an eight-story building collapsed in Hama province, in Syria and multiple other buildings have reported to have collapsed in the city of Latakia. And the city of Aleppo as well.
I mean, we were speaking earlier, Laila, this is an earthquake that has been felt across this region. We've heard from people from Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and of course, Syria, who have felt the impact of this powerful 7.8 earthquake that has impacted Southeastern Turkey.
So we are starting to get more information coming in from Turkish authorities as we mentioned earlier, the Turkish interior minister, Suleyman Soylu, saying that right now, their top priority obviously is the search and rescue operations.
It is almost daylight hours here in the next few minutes. This should help them with their -- with their rescue operations. But we are talking about a large area of the country that has been impacted by the earthquake and this coming in the middle of this winter storm, this snow storm.
It's going to be very, very tough and challenging for the authorities to deal with the aftermath, deal with the search and rescue, deal with providing people with shelter just because we're speaking about this huge part of the country that has been impacted by this earthquake, Laila.
HARRAK: Thank you so very much. Jomana Karadsheh has been reporting on breaking developments out of Turkey where a deadly earthquake has struck that has been felt as far away as Syria. We're going to keep you posted for now. We're going to take a very short break. We'll be right back.
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