Calgarians grapple with devastating earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria - Action News
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Calgary

Calgarians grapple with devastating earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria

A 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey on Monday followed by a 7.5-magnitude quake hours later, resulting in the deaths of thousands of people.

Thousands of Syrian refugees have called this city home since 2015

A young boy in a bright blue parka peers over his shoulder as he climbs a mound of rubble.
A boy climbs a pile of rubble in northwest Syria after a powerful earthquake struck neighbouring Turkey. (Submitted by Abdulkafi Alhamdo)

Abdulsalam Mustafa left his apartment immediately after the first earthquake struck.

For the past few weeks, the Syrian-born Calgarian has been in his hometown of Latakia, Syria, with his mother and sistervisiting his brother, who couldn't flee to Canada with the rest of the family last January.

"All of us feel, like, stress, because it's a painful experience," Mustafa said. "[We're] tiredbecause we can't sleep. We slept about one hour within the last 25 hours."

On Monday morning, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey, followed by a 7.5-magnitude quake nine hours later, resulting in the deaths of thousands of people.

Mustafa and his family have spent a day-and-a-half on the streets, staying out of their apartment buildingand away from what little infrastructure is left standing, in case something collapses.

In broad daylight, families sit near building rubble in Kahramanmaras, Turkey, the quake's epicentre following Monday's earthquake.
Families wait amid the rubble of buildings in Kahramanmaras, Turkey, the quake's epicentre, after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the country's southeast on Feb. 7. (Ozan Kose/AFP/Getty Images)

And he's unsure when they'll be going back inside.

"There are people who have returned," Mustafa said. "But we don't feel enough safety to go home."

Impact felt globally

Several aftershocks followed. Jolts continued to shake the ground in Turkey and Syria in the aftermath of the initial tremor. In communities and cities across the world, those withties to the two countries are feeling the impact.

"You might think that this is happening far, far away from Calgary, but because now we have such a strong connection with so many Syrians here we are very much hurting, too, as a city," said Saima Jamal.

She's one of the co-founders of the Calgary Immigrant Support Society, and has been working with displaced Syrians since they first arrived in Canada.

In conversations with friends in Syria and across the country'snorthern border in Turkey, Jamal says she hears the fear and trauma in their voices.

A man stands on a pile of snow-covered debris, holding a jacket, while a woman is sitting in front of him and holding a child.
People sit by a collapsed building in Malatya, Turkey, on Tuesday. Search teams and aid are pouring into Turkey and Syria as rescuers working in freezing temperatures dig through the remains of buildings flattened by a magnitude 7.8 earthquake. (Emrah Gurel/The Associated Press)

"I havefriendsfrom Syriathat have told me they've never witnessed something like this," Jamal said.

"They're traumatized. They're traumatizedmuch more than they were even during the war."

Hoping and helping

In a ground-level restaurantin Gaziantep, the epicentre of the earthquake, people gathered to share food, water and resources and seek refuge.

Surrounded by children and families, Calgary business owner Abdulfatah Sabounisees those who are impacteddoing what they can to help whoever he can. He's in the country on a business trip.

"People now help each other they open restaurants, football spacesor schools," Sabouni said.

Rescue teams carry a survivor out from rubble.
Rescue teams evacuate a survivor from the rubble of a destroyed building in Kahramanmaras, southern Turkey, on Tuesday. (Khalil Hamra/The Associated Press)

"People are making food to offer [others] as well."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said 13 million of the country's 85 million people were affected, and he declared a state of emergency in 10 provinces.

More than 8,000 people have been pulled from the debris in Turkey, and some 380,000 have taken refuge in government shelters or hotels, authorities said.

Aid efforts in Syria hampered

In Syria, meanwhile, aid efforts have been hampered by the ongoing war and the isolation of the rebel-held region along the border, which is surrounded by Russia-backed government forces.

Syria is an international pariah under Western sanctions linked to the war. Volunteer first-responders known as the White Helmets have years of experience rescuing people from buildings destroyed by Syrian and Russian airstrikes in the rebel-held enclave, but they say the earthquake has overwhelmed their capabilities.

Turkey is home to millions of refugees from the war. The affected area in Syria is divided between government-controlled territory and the country's last opposition-held enclave, where millions rely on humanitarian aid to survive.

"It was a humanitarian crisis, even before the earthquake," Jamal said. "People don't have enough food, they don't have kerosine to burn their stoves, to warm their houses."

With files from The Associated press and the Calgary Eyeopener