Natural disaster

A magnitude 5.6 earthquake that rocked Turkey once again, killing one person and injuring more than 100 people is indeed sad news (“1 killed, over 100 injured as new quake hits Turkey,” Feb.28, Gulf Today website).

Although science has achieved numerous successes in many fields of life, it’s still unable to predict the exact time and venue of natural disasters like earthquake, avalanche and flooding.  

According to the report, a magnitude 5.6 earthquake shook southern Turkey on Monday, three weeks after a catastrophic temblor devastated the region, causing some already damaged buildings to collapse and killing at least one person, authorities said.

More than 100 people were injured as a result of Monday’s quake which was centred in the town of Yesilyurt in Malatya province, Yunus Sezer, the chief of the country’s disaster management agency, AFAD, told reporters. More than two dozen buildings collapsed.

Elsewhere in Malatya, search-and-rescue teams were sifting through the rubble of two damaged buildings that toppled on some parked cars, HaberTurk reported.

Malatya was among 11 Turkish provinces hit by the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that devastated parts of southern Turkey and northern Syria on Feb. 6.

People of Turkey are already facing the horror of a powerful 8.7 magnitude earthquake in which more than 45,000 Turkish people have died, going through another shock of a magnitude 5.6 earthquake. I would like to appreciate the gesture of several countries that have shown love and care through generous help to the people of Turkey and Syria in times of hardship.

I hope the world will continue its honest efforts towards the Syria and Turkey earthquake victims and it should continue to help them till life becomes normal in both the countries.

I am sure Syria and Turkey will come out of their hard times and once again life in Syria and Turkey will be normal.

Junaid Saleem,
By email