The earthquake in Turkey is already the deadliest in the region in almost a century with more than 20,000 deaths

It had been more than 80 years since the earth trembled so strongly in Anatolia. The earthquakes of more than 7 degrees that shook southern Turkey and northern Syria last Monday They are already registered as the deadliest earthquake episode of the last eight decades in the area.

More than 20,000 people have lost their lives due to the effects of tremorsof 7.8 and 7.5 degrees, and its hundreds of aftershocks, and the number of fatalities could increase exponentially in the next few hours given the improbability of surviving more than 72 hours under the rubble.

The emergency teams are working hard and they are still finding people alive among the ruins of the more than 6,000 destroyed buildings. However, there are areas that they have not even been able to access due to the orographic nature of the area and the snow that still weighs on the asphalt at temperatures that reach -6ºC at nightfall.

The situation is even more critical in Syria. The country, mired in a civil war for more than a decade, has hardly been able to receive humanitarian aid. authorities on both sides they make a deficit count of deaths while the residents of the affected areas, desperate, try to save their relatives risking their own.

Not even finding survivors guarantees life in the country. Without international aid, electricity, or drinking water, the wounded of the earthquakes also suffer the consequences of a country that is bleeding to death by the war. In fact, some four million people already needed humanitarian aid before the earthquake inside the Syrian borders.

The 1939 earthquake, the largest in the area since there are records

It is the third time in a century that Turkey has to mourn the loss of thousands of its citizens due to earthquakes that exceed 7 degrees. In 1999, the country was the victim of a 7.4 magnitude earthquake which caused the death of 17,000 people.

The deadliest in the country occurred in 1939. By then, more than 33,000 people lost their lives after suffering a series of earthquakes that oscillated in a magnitude between 7.1 and 8 degrees along the Erzincan fault, in the east of the country.

The earthquake, which has already killed tens of thousands in Turkey and Syria, is the deadliest earthquake in more than a decade. In 2010, Haiti was subjected to the most devastating earthquake on record. Over there More than 300,000 people lost their lives. by a magnitude 7 earthquake.

In 1990, neighboring Turkey and Syria, Iran, was the victim of the deadliest earthquake to date in the Middle East, even exceeding the death toll caused by Monday’s. In Manjil-Rudbar Around 35,000 people lost their lives in a magnitude 7.4 earthquake.

The 10 affected Turkish provinces, in a ‘state of emergency’

From this Thursday, and for the next three months, the 10 Turkish provinces affected by the earthquakes They have entered a ‘state of emergency’designated for natural catastrophes such as the one that occurred last Monday.

With the state of emergency, decreed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish authorities can impose on citizens monetary, patrimonial or labor obligations, and even limit or suspend your rights.