With news coming in that a 6.4 magnitude earthquake has hit Türkiye‘s Hatay province, Tom Colley, a member of HelpAge’s humanitarian response team currently in Gaziantep, said:
“People are very frightened and are leaving the buildings, fearing the worst. Many are still in precarious circumstances after the earthquake a fortnight ago. This is very distressing.”
Tom was in a meeting when the earthquake struck and has been advised to stay put in the hotel.
Dr Wassel Aljerk, programme manager for HelpAge’s partner Syrian Expatriate Medical Association is currently in Dana city in Harem district, near the Bab Alhawa border. He said:
“Many buildings have collapsed in Atareb, Salqin, Jinderes and we are hearing of lots of injuries as people are jumping out of apartments in high rise buildings as they are worried they would not be able to escape in time to save their lives.
“We have had to evacuate our cholera hospital in Idlib because of risk of collapse due to lots of cracks in the buildings caused by the last earthquake. Thankfully, there is only one patient and we have evacuated the patient and SEMA staff to our cholera centre in Atma.
“I am now checking the status of all our other health facilities in Syria and meanwhile I have to evacuate my family again.”