(Ottawa) Zein Almoghraby was sleeping peacefully in his hotel room early Monday morning in southeastern Turkey when he felt the building begin to shake. Once in the hallway, the Toronto resident witnessed a chaotic scene.
“Children kept crying and screaming,” Almoghraby said in a phone interview from Gaziantep, which is one of the cities hardest hit by the deadly earthquake that has ravaged Turkey. and Syria.
The 7.8 magnitude quake, which was followed by strong aftershocks, caused the collapse of thousands of buildings in southeastern Turkey and parts of Syria. More than 7,800 people died, while several thousand more were injured.
The death toll is expected to rise further as search and rescue operations continue.
Mr Almoghraby pointed out that aftershocks were still occurring on Tuesday evening.
“You never know when the next tremor is going to come,” he said. Every time there is an aftershock, people run into the streets. They are going to take refuge in their car, because it is really cold. »
Mr. Almoghraby, who is the director of international programs for Journalists for Human Rights, was on a mission with a Canadian colleague to train Syrian refugee journalists when the earthquake struck.
Since then, he and his colleague tried to leave Turkey, but were unable to do so, despite the efforts of their organization.
Global Affairs Canada did not immediately respond to a request from The Canadian Press to comment on the situation on Tuesday, but as of Monday it had not yet received a request for help from Canadians stranded since the quake. The ministry had, however, noted that there were 7,513 people registered as being abroad in Turkey and 1,394 in Syria.
Once out of the hotel, Mr. Almoghraby took refuge in a local radio station with which he worked during his stay in Turkey. Other people displaced by the earthquake are living in temporary shelters such as mosques, sports stadiums and schools, many of which have reached capacity.
Some buildings near where it stands have collapsed, Almoghraby said, while others are still standing but have been so badly damaged that they are no longer safe.
Mr Almoghraby also saw rescue teams digging through the rubble in the hope of finding survivors.
“What is most heartbreaking is seeing all the families standing in front of the debris watching helplessly as the rescuers dig through the rubble,” he said.
“The more time passes, the atmosphere becomes heavy, because everyone knows that with each hour that passes, the chances [de faire sortir leurs proches vivants] decrease. »
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that 13 million of the country’s 85 million people had been affected by the quake.
In Syria, meanwhile, aid efforts have been hampered by war and the isolation of the rebel-held region along the border, which is surrounded by Russian-backed government forces.
Canada will send financial assistance
In addition, Ottawa announced that Canada will pay an initial “emergency humanitarian response” of 10 million to support the populations of Turkey and Syria following the violent earthquakes.
International Development Minister Harjit Sajjan said the federal government is assessing the need for additional assistance on the ground and is also considering deploying the Canadian Armed Forces Disaster Response Team to assist in rescue operations.
Minister Sajjan said that “thanks to the $50 million in funding” Canada has provided for disaster response in Syria, its “partners on the ground have already launched emergency response activities.”