Turkey and Syria earthquakes: Aftermath and updates on the humanitarian crisis

Earthquakes can strike when and where we least expect them — as residents in the New York City and New Jersey area discovered on Friday morning, when an estimated magnitude 4.8 quake hit at 10:23 am Eastern time.

The quake’s epicenter was in Lebanon, New Jersey, some 50 miles west of Manhattan, though shaking was reportedly felt as far south as Philadelphia and as far north as Boston. As of late Friday morning, there were no reports of serious damage.

On the morning of February 6, a pair of powerful earthquakes, 7.8 and 7.6, struck Turkey and Syria. On top of that, the region was hit with strong aftershocks, which made the destruction even worse. The death toll is in the tens of thousands, with many victims still lying beneath the rubble.

Multiple factors led to this earthquake being so devastating, like fault lines, neighborhoods reeling from the ongoing war, and delayed rescue missions. But what made these earthquakes particularly catastrophic was unsafe buildings. According to the Turkish government, more than 6,000 buildings collapsed in the wake of the temblors. And that’s likely because of the way the buildings were built.

Turkey is still in the middle of an emergency, reeling from the earthquake that killed at least 35,000 people last week. But the finger-pointing has already begun.

The rush to punishment comes amid the grief, but also the mounting fury and frustration over the Turkish government’s earthquake response. Much of that is focused on the emergency response — waiting for aid and rescue teams — but it is also extending to anger about policies before the earthquake, about how shoddy building construction may have exacerbated the devastation of the disaster.

In the early hours of Monday, February 6, residents living in southern Turkey and northern Syria were woken by violent shaking, collapsing buildings, and sweeping blackouts. The earthquake buried residents in rubble and was followed by powerful aftershocks. By the following Monday, the death toll had passed 36,000 people. “It was like the apocalypse,” Abdul Salam al-Mahmoud, a resident of Atareb, Syria, told Reuters.

The country is no stranger to quakes, having lost 17,000 people to a 7.4-magnitude tremor in 1999. But while last week’s earthquake was a 7.8-magnitude quake, and had an unusually strong 7.5-magnitude aftershock, the reason this earthquake is so deadly has less to do with its power, and more to do with the preexisting circumstances of the affected communities and the lack of preparation for disaster.

The earthquake that struck southeastern Turkey this week is now one of the deadliest disasters in decades. More than 20,000 people have been killed in Turkey and Syria, with the toll expected to rise as wintry conditions and time foreclose the chance to pull survivors from the rubble.

In Turkey alone, an estimated 16,000 have been killed. More than 6,400 buildings have collapsed in an area that was prone to earthquakes and whose recent buildings were, if not earthquake-proofed, supposed to be better able to withstand the next big tremor. Which means now, as the emergency unfolds into a sustained tragedy, it looks as if Turkey was unprepared for a disaster that was a matter of when, not if.

Editor’s note, February 9, 11:30 am ET: This story is no longer being updated. Please find Vox’s latest coverage of the earthquake and aftermath here.

The death toll has exceeded 20,000 in the earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria this week, making it one of the most destructive disasters in decades and adding to the devastation in a region already roiling from years of conflict and economic and humanitarian crises.