The death toll from the Turkey-Syria earthquakes has surpassed 40,000, as per the Al Jazeera report of not more than 72hrs ago.
Reuters also reported this week that nine survivors have been pulled from Turkey’s rubble as the earthquake’s death toll passes 40,000.
These earthquakes are the deadliest to have occurred ‘post-Covid-19’ and in decades between the two nations.
As quoted by the BBC on February 6, 2023, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, “It is impossible to prepare for disasters this big.”
Tayyip blamed the rapid response on damaged roads and airports, as per the BBC.
On Monday, February 6, more than 12,000 people in southern Turkey and Northern Syria were already known to have been killed in the day’s earthquakes.
Happening at a time the world is still trying to heal from Covid-19 and its effects, including the war in Ukraine, words of compassion and condolences continue to flow to the hit countries.
In Uganda, a top political party, Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) has described the world as “a global village,” adding, “…whatever happens in one part of the globe affects the rest of the globe as well.”
UPC party spokesperson, Arach Oyat Sharon said Wednesday that from the look of things, it seems we are living in a world that is not ready to handle global disasters effectively in real-time.
“The two world wars gave us global mother bodies to advance the cause of humanity. These are the defunct League of Nations born at the end of the First World War with a mandate of creating a better world,” she added.
She said the current United Nations (UN) Organisation was founded at the end of the Second World War in 1945, with broader aims of improving humanity than its predecessor, the League of Nations.
The two bodies, she said have addressed themselves with disarmament programs with some success and failure.
Speaking for the UPC party that led Uganda twice, Arach noted that the increased arms race in the world leads to the testing of deadly weapons especially underground or in the sea.
“The wars erupting now and then across the globe lead to the proliferation of deadly weapons and their usage against mankind. This leaves immediate and long-term effects like Japan which still has scars from Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings during the Second World War in 1945.”
According to her, such experiences especially from testing deadly weapons and waging deadly wars affects the globe in several ways. For instance; some weapon tests contribute to earth tremors; in wars, some bombs too are very deadly to both universe and humanity. When we have established lines of weaknesses within the earth’s crust, any external interference can complicate earth movements or tectonics thus leading to deadly tremors that can give way to earthquakes of mega scales.
“UPC joins the rest of the world to mourn and sympathise with both Turkey and Syria that are just coming out of a very deadly earthquake, which has claimed over 20,000 lives so far!”
“According to scientific research, earth tremor can re-occur immediately after such incidents at times,” according to the party, imploring the “United Nations to take a serious lead in the handling of global disasters like floods, famine, earthquakes and diseases”.
“These are beyond any country’s capabilities and we call upon international assistance to be directed to Turkey and Syria to save the situation. The survivors of the earthquake need immediate medical attention.”
Arach told a media conference in Kampala that the rest of the world is very much eager to know the fate of its citizens in Syria and Turkey, stating “this can only be achieved through a global mother body like the UN and its agencies”.
“In Uganda, where we have exported labour to Turkey, the government should liaise with her diplomatic mission and consulate offices in Turkey and neighbouring countries to know the fate of our citizens.”