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CONTEXT
On the night of February 6, 2023, at 4:17 a.m. local time, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Türkiye and Syria and Türkiye has announced a three-month state of emergency in 10 provinces worst affected by the earthquake. This marks the most powerful earthquake recorded in Türkiye since 1939. The quake was followed by 78 aftershocks, and it hit the region a second time in the afternoon on the 6th of February at 13:24 p.m. with a magnitude of 7.5 in Ekinozu/Kahramanmaras province. On February 20, a 6.4- magnitude earthquake and a second measuring 5.8 also hit Türkiye’s southern province of Hatay, terrifying those left in a region devastated by twin earthquakes two weeks ago. After the earthquake on February 20, Turkish Medical Association (Türk Tabipleri Birliği) had announced that there is no longer a public hospital in the Hatay region that could provide health services. On February 27, another 5.6-magnitude earthquake hit Türkiye’s southern province of Malatya. The earthquakes have been followed by 9,990 aftershocks in total. The earthquakes led to the collapse of a number of buildings in the affected regions. More than 15 million people are affected and resulting in more than 54,000 at the time of this report. In Syria, at least 7,259 people (4,600 in NWS) are reported dead with the majority of victims recorded in Aleppo, Hama, Latakia and Tartous. In Türkiye, the authorities count at least 46,104 dead. More than a thousand buildings have completely collapsed, raising fears of even higher human losses.