Türkiye-Syria earthquakes remembered, one year on

On February 6, 2023, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake rocked southeast Türkiye near the Syrian border. As rescue efforts got underway, the region was hit by a second, 7.7-magnitude quake.

A year after twin earthquakes rocked the Turkish-Syrian border, nearly half a million families are still in need of aid and assistance. That's according to Jessie Thomson, Head of Delegation at International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Türkiye.

"There are lots of people really still in need and really still in need of support to be able to recover," Thomson told CGTN. "International attention still needs to come in support of the response - and yes, it's a marathon and not a sprint."

With the quakes having impacted a cross-border region the size of Germany, more than 460,000 families still rely on aid from the Red Cross/Crescent and its partners to make ends meet. 

More than 250,000 victims of the disaster have sought mental and physical healthcare since the earthquakes claimed more than 55,000 lives last year. In addition, 130,000 people were also reported wounded and injured in the immediate aftermath of the emergency.

"Nobody was prepared for the scale of the disaster, the scale of the destruction and just the chaos that comes in in a situation like that," said Thomson. "No government, no organization could be prepared for a disaster of this scale."

Millions were left displaced after more than 200,000 buildings were damaged beyond repair or lost in the quakes.

For weeks, rescue efforts would exhume body after body as emergency workers worked through the night to find any survivors.

Beyond the human toll, the earthquakes ruined water infrastructure, hospitals, schools and countless other essential facets of life. In total the quakes would cost Türkiye $148.8 billion -nine percent of its GDP - and Syria $14.8 billion.

Subscribe to Storyboard: A weekly newsletter bringing you the best of CGTN every Friday