Turkish president declares state of emergency after quakes

More than 100 aftershocks occurred the day after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake and a subsequent 7.5 magnitude quake struck near the border of Turkey and Syria, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The death toll across both countries rose to more than 5,000 on Tuesday. At least 22,000 people are injured in Turkey alone, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. The earthquake is displacing people from mid-Turkey to northern Syria. The death toll is expected to rise as rescue teams continue to pull people from the rubble amid snow and freezing temperatures. 

What’s happening to refugees? More than 8,000 people have been pulled from the rubble in Turkey, while about 380,000 people are in government shelters or hotels, said Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay. Getting aid to Syria is going to be especially difficult since the infrastructure was already damaged by years of war, said Adelheid Marschang, Senior Emergency Officer for the World Health Organization.

Dig deeper: Listen to Onize Ohikere’s report on The World and Everything in It podcast about the aid that flooded Pakistan after 600,000 people were displaced.