Over 28,000 people died from earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.

On February 6 in the early morning hours a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit southern and central Turkey as well as northern and western Syria.

A 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit on February 6 in south Turkey close to Syrian border. A magnitude 7.5 earthquake located nearly 59 miles (95 km) to the southwest was sensational nine hours after this one.

The first earthquake was the most powerful one recorded there in 1939 and that was the deadliest one. It was in south central Turkey which is also home to a lot of humanitarian relief organisations and thousands of Syrian refugees.

Through AFAD's coordination and collaboration with the Turkish Red Crescent the Turkish government is taking the lead in addressing the issue there. An international aid request was made after a level 4 emergency declaration was announced by state authorities. In these 10 provinces Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a 3 month state of emergency.

International relief requests were quickly answered by rescue teams and aid offers from governments all over the world.

The Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) of Turkey estimates that as of 1st March there had been more than 11,000 aftershocks. There might continue to be aftershocks for a while.

Additional disasters have further complicated what to do and raised difficulties for a quick and efficient recovery. In their April 20 Turkey Earthquake Situation Report the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) stated that "difficult weather conditions including flooding and heavy rainfall, windstorms as well as scorching weather in certain regions create additional challenges to the rescue operations."

Several regional developments for the period of March 30 through April 6 are noted below:

The six provinces of Bingöl, Kayseri, Mardin, Tunceli, Nide and Batman were declared as earthquake affected on April 3 according to the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) because they found the buildings there with moderate, severe or mild damage.

Approximately 4 million school going children including 350,000 refugee kids have been affected by the earthquakes. In 71 other provinces the 254,000 students who moved out the earthquake affected provinces continue their study. 11,064 more students who had earlier left the earthquake zone for adjacent provinces have now returned. 2,026 temporary learning facilities such as tents, containers or readymade schools were set up in the 10 affected provinces. The academic year 2022-2023 will finish on June 16 however summer activities will be planned to make up for the learning wasted as a result of school closures. The President announced that 45,000 additional teachers will be hired throughout Turkey with priority given to the provinces that recently suffered an earthquake.

In the earthquake zone over 2.4 million people survive in temporary shelters of which roughly 1.6 million are spread in temporary societies. Hatay, Adyaman, Kahramanmaraş and Malatya are the areas most badly hit with 92% of the population staying in temporary homes. The majority of those staying in official and unofficial temporary housing are in Hatay.

14,400 births will happen in the earthquake zone next month and 130,000 women are expecting a child according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

According to the President 67,50 homes and village homes have been started building in the earthquake zone and a year from now 319,000 homes and 14,600 workplaces are scheduled to be built. Additionally it was revealed that the Turkish government provided and set up 36,000 containers along with 525,000 tents.

In addition to the 12 provinces of Hatay, Adyaman, Kahramanmaraş, Diyarbakr, Batman, and Adana. STL also provides immediate help in Mardin, Mersin, Ankara, Zmir and Istanbul. Malatya will soon see an intervention from STL.

But why it was so deadly?

The first earthquake was deadliest its magnitude was 7.8 which is considered major by the government. It collapsed along a fault line that was approximately 100 km (62 miles) long seriously damaging buildings close to the fault.

Professor Joanna Faure Walker he is the head of the University College London Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction concluded that one of the most deadliest earthquakes in a single year.

Why did the earthquake happen?

The plates that make up the Earth crust are in individual pieces that connect to one another.

These plates try to rotate often but are unable to do so because of friction generated on by rubbing against an adjacent plate. However occasionally the pressure increases to the point that one plate suddenly shakes across moving the surface.

In this instance the Arabian plate was moving north and slamming against the Anatolian plate.