Frantic search efforts were still underway in both countries, with rescuers digging through the rubble of collapsed buildings to find any survivors and remove the bodies of the dead.
Confirmed: A 7.8 magnitude earthquake has knocked out power and internet connectivity in parts of southern; the impact to communications may affect the public’s ability to seek assistance, with hundreds of casualties reported.
7.8 Magnitude Details: Timestamp: 2023-02-06 09:17:35 (UTC+08:00), Epicenter location: 37.174°N 37.032°E, Depth: 17.9 miles.
6.7 Magnitude Details: Timestamp: 2023-02-06 09:28:17 (UTC+08:00), Location: 37.414°N 36.831°E, Depth: 6.15 miles Taken from Defcon Level Warning System: https://www.defconlevel.com/central-command-news.php#breaking-news
- Quake strikes central Turkey, northwest Syria
- Death toll more than 1,600 in Turkey, 1,000 in Syria
- Rescuers hunt for untold numbers trapped in rubble
(Turkey is in one of the world’s most active earthquake zones, with land stretching over the Anatolian fault line in the north of the country that has caused large and destructive tremors. İzmit and the surrounding Kocaeli region, close to Istanbul, was rocked by a 7.4-magnitude earthquake in 1999, the worst to hit Turkey in decades. That quake (1999) killed more than 17,000 people, including at least 1,000 in Istanbul, amid widespread destruction. Experts have long warned a large quake could devastate Istanbul. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/06/turkey-earthquake-2023-gaziantep)
| Nearby towns and cities | 351 km (218 mi) NE of Trikomo (Ammochostos, Cyprus) (pop: 4,490) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 359 km (223 mi) NE of Famagusta (Ammochostos, Cyprus) (pop: 42,500) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 359 km (223 mi) NE of Protaras (Ammochostos, Cyprus) (pop: 20,200) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 363 km (225 mi) NE of Paralimni (Famagusta District, Cyprus) (pop: 11,800) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 381 km (237 mi) NE of Pergamos (Larnaka, Cyprus) (pop: 15,000) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 397 km (247 mi) NE of Nicosia (Cyprus) (pop: 200,500) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 401 km (249 mi) NE of Strovolos (Nicosia, Cyprus) (pop: 67,900) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 454 km (282 mi) NE of Limassol (Limassol District, Cyprus) (pop: 154,000) | Show on map | Quakes nearby |
Lord have mercy! Gail, do you have any information on who individuals should contact in order to contribute money?
No. Communications are down. I would guess the best place would be our respective jurisdictions here, as they would have the contacts there that would need it the most.
I called the Greek Archdiocese and a woman answered the phone. I told her we wanted to post some directions on our site on how we could help the victims of the earthquake.
“They’re not our people,” she says.
“There are thousand of people who have died and are hurt in Istanbul” and we want to help. Our blog reaches 2000 people a day.”
“Our people are in Greece and they’re fine. We don’t need your help.”
“Are you telling me you’re not connected to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul?”
“No, our people are in Constantinople and they’re fine.”
Such a rude, STUPID woman. When I asked to speak to someone else, she said she was the only one at the Archdiocese. Gosh, I hope something doesn’t catch on fire because I seriously doubt she could find her way out of a building let alone call for help.
Guess they don’t want our money so I won’t be posting anything on this blog about how to help the Greeks . . . EVER. They are good at “helping themselves,” anyway.
I read this comment on moon of Alabama today. I be also watched a Yii on iTunes Vanessa Beeley video where she stated that the US will sanction any country that helps Syria.
Comment:
“ Read this comment today
Moon of Alabama
“Being on the nations scheduled to be “rolled up” Syria has been targeted for destruction for many years now. They are being punished for being allies with Russia, functioning independently and not being s vassal to the USA and it’s vassals. Syria was engulfed in one of the worst color revolution wars in recent history and with some help they have prevailed. Libya was not so fortunate. To this day USA forces are in Syria, training insurgents and overseeing the theft of it’s oil. “Make the economy scream” as per the Kissinger quote is cruel method of inflicting pain on the populace in order to harness their discontent. When the USA and it’s “allies” continue this sinister stranglehold, they will continue to confirm their draconian nature.”
Posted by: Chevrus | Feb 6 2023 16:01 utc | 2
Video
https://youtu.be/O5_f9f6B8sc
I highly recommend Moon.
I’ve just received an email from IOCC for donations.
Lest we forget that this region is the historical cradle of Christianity, home to many saints among them Saint Ephraim; Edessa holds the origins of the icon-not-made-with-hands… and is still the home to many Christians, despite their numbers declining in recent years.
Please share. Link:
https://support.iocc.org/site/Donation2?df_id=8464&mfc_pref=T&8464.donation=form1
I can’t believe how rudely you were treated. I guess she didn’t get the memo from the “ecumenical” Patriarchate of Istanbul that is “non-phylestic” (as opposed to those wascully Wussians with their “pan-Slavism.”
I’m not ashamed to be Greek; I ashamed that those people are. What a dropi.
When you’re born into the world thinking you’re the center of the universe, it doesn’t help you to “win friends and influence people.”
I can just hear Rod Serling: “Imagine if you’re Greek and you wake up one day and you’re no longer the center of the universe. There are no people who speak your language. The country of Greece no longer exists. Your parents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins are no longer Greek. You run to the Church and the services are in English with all sorts of different people. You are surrounded by many races who have found meaning in their lives doing things with other people who do not think they are the center of the universe.”
Perhaps the GOA should hire people like me who were born and raised in a place that is so diverse that I had to ask why people were crying when Obama became president. (Of course now things have changed. Since Obama, not because of Obama, black people are now the privileged ones by fiat.) I remember my husband having to tell me, “Gail, he’s the first black president.”
Oh, yeah, I said.
I didn’t see Obama as black, white or anything else. But I was born a California girl and lived there the better part of my life. Whites are in the minority there and we are raise to be color blind, although few believe me when I say this.
I AM LITERALLY COLOR BLIND.
I don’t get people who think they’re they are the “be all and end all” and everything revolves around them. Total disconnect for me and a HUGE turnoff. How could you NOT want to help people collect money for people who are suffering?
I wrote this story not because I was upset, or even surprised, as I have encountered SO MUCH WORSE that George won’t allow me to print.
I wrote this story because I am aghast. Again.
What can I say? “Pride goeth before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18.
Holy Father Photios the Great, pray to God for us!
Rise above it, be Christ like. Help them anyway.
Cross yourself and keep serving God with your blog.
God is long suffering and patient with us so that we may be patient and long suffering with others and don’t let stupid and rude people get in your way of doing the right thing.
Keep up the good work!
Thank you, Fr!
SHAME on GOA office talking to you like that!
Our prayers go out to victims left in shreds.
These people the Greek archdiocese hires all the way to the offices of the Phanar are basically Greeks connected usually from the NY area. They don’t really know anything. Years ago a Greek/american friend got into contact with someone at the Phanar who spoke Greek. She wanted to protest some ecclesiological change she heard about. The person on the other end knew nothing but was trying to use his position answering phones for the EP as if he was an expert. Anyhow she finally figured out the person on the other end of the phone was a childhood friend of hers from Queens NY! She attended church but was basically nominal got hooked up with a job due to connections. That’s what most of these secretaries are. Clueless
That’s a funny story!
Not offense to the woman on the other end but she legit sounds confused.
In the famous words of Trump: “They’re not sending their best”
I know my name isn’t Gail, but….
International Orthodox Christian Charities?
I am hesitant about NGOs in general and about NGOs having to the with Ecumenical Patriarchate, in particular.
Excerpt from something some may want to read:
Alexander Rondos is a citizen of Greece born in 1954 in the Sultanate of Zanzibar to Dar es Salaam (de facto a British colony at that time, now part of Tanzania). He studied in the UK, was a correspondent for the British magazine West Africa Magazine, and then worked for Catholic Relief Services, an American Catholic NGO. In the 1980’s, in the United States, he met with George Soros and entered the structure of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in America. This strategy was successful, and, in 1992, Rondos founded and headed, with the support of Soros, the International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC), the international Orthodox charitable organization under the auspices of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
The purpose of this structure is controlling powerful financial flows under the pretext of church charity. Rondos befriended Alexander Karloutsos on the basis of interest in church money and overall relations with American “philanthropists”. Rondos used this structure to spread his influence to other Orthodox countries (Yugoslavia, Russia, Middle East). In particular, in 1998, under the guise of the IOCC, on the eve of the bombing of Yugoslavia, he visited Albania and Kosovo on a mission. After all necessary information was received and negotiations were conducted, the NATO military operation began.
https://katehon.com/en/article/man-behind-scenes-crete-council
Another Except From Something We Wrote:
AGENTS IN PLACE: ALEX RONDOS AND ALEXANDER KARLOUTSOS
According to Katehon.ru, both Rondos and Karloutsos are active in globalist circles and extremely close to the infamous financier George Soros. (Karloutsos actually lives next door to Soros in the Hamptons.) For those who may not know, Soros is a notorious speculator and financier, leaving much economic ruin in his wake. An atheist of little conscience, he actually bet against the English pound in 1992, causing Great Britain to be thrown into a recession.
Alex Rondos is a United States intelligence asset who currently serves as EU Special Representative for the Horn of Africa. Rondos, a Greek citizen, was born in 1954 in what is now Tanzania. He studied in the UK and was a correspondent for West Africa Magazine and then worked for Catholic Relief Services, an American Catholic non-governmental organization (NGO).
In the 1980s, Rondos met with Soros and remains close to him to this day. Through Soros’ influence, Rondos was able to ingratiate himself into the Patriarchate of Constantinople and in 1992, he founded and headed the major emergency relief agency of the Patriarchate of Constantinople known as International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC). Soon after founding the IOCC, Rondos made the acquaintance of Rev Alexander Karloutsos (of which more will be said shortly).
According to Katehon, the IOCC served as a conduit for the flow of monies needed to finance the various “color coded revolutions” under the auspices of philanthropy. If true, this is shocking to say the least. All that is known for sure is that wherever Rondos and/or the IOCC is active, whether in Eastern Europe or the Middle East, pro-Russian governments tend to fall.
Perhaps it’s just a coincidence. However Rondos’ biography is more complex; not only is he involved in the ecclesiastical sphere but he is active in secular NGOs as well. Congruent with his work with the IOCC for instance, Rondos created the Centre for Applied Non-violent Action and Strategies (CANVAS) in 2004, while stationed in Belgrade. Shortly thereafter he served as an advisor to the ill-fated Mikhail Sakaashvilli, then President of Georgia, who upon the instigation of American neoconservatives, provoked war with Russia. (Whether Rondos had anything to do with this or not is presently unknown.)
Rondos has also been active in Greek left wing politics. A friend of former Prime Minister George Papandreou (also a Soros protegee), he worked behind the scenes to prevent a rapprochement between Russia and Greece. The Greek government published a report accusing Rondos of using government money to fund one of his NGOs. (For the record, I try not to put too much stock in reports emanating out of certain foreign governments but am merely reporting what the Greek government itself published.)
Rondos is also active within the World Bank and is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations (CFR), an American think tank which actively promotes the globalist agenda. It may be nothing more than a coincidence but wherever he appears, pro-Russian regimes tend to fall and the neoconservative policy of American hegemonism proceeds apace. Whether this is by design or also under the direction of the Phanar is unknown as well. If true, then Soros and the Phanar are in active collusion and whose primary purpose is to weaken the autocephalous Churches of the Balkans and Syria.
As for Alexander Karloutsos, he likewise is a friend of Soros. As one of the main spokesmen for the Council, it was Karloutsos who swatted down attempts by the Bulgarian and Russian churches to postpone the Council. According to Karloutsos, “there is no mandate to change or postpone and we are going to proceed. They asked for a pre-conciliar meeting on the 17th and we expect them to be here. We are the church of love and embrace everyone.” (Except the OCA it seems.)
“Fr Alex,” as he is endearingly called by various and sundry people, is close to several Greek-American moguls and controls the purse strings of Faith: An Endowment for Hellenism and Orthodoxy. This clumsily named endowment is the largest single source of funds that flows to the Phanar. (In 2014, it gave $250,000 to refurbish the Olympic sized swimming pool at the Ionian Village.) Because of his control of this endowment, the word on the street is that he has more influence in the GOA than any of the metropolitans.
According to Epikera a Greek news magazine, Karloutsos was instrumental in the overthrow of Archbishop Iakovos Coucouzis in 1996 because of his involvment in the Ligonier Conference. His contacts in the Greek government include Dora Bakoyiannis, Constantine Mitsotakis and other operatives within the Karamanlis family. He is also a link between conservative Greek politicians and the Bush clan. In this way Soros plays both ends against the middle: using Rondos to ingratiate himself among the Greek Left while use Karloutsos to influence the Greek Right.
Karloutsos has done well by doing good, as the old cliche has it. He lives in a house estimated at $700,000 in the elite suburb of the Hamptons and his nearest neighbor (as mentioned earlier) is George Soros.
Things get stickier from there. According to Turkish sources, Karloutsos is also close to Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish Islamist leader who resides in the United States and is active with American intelligence agencies. Gulen runs one of the largest construction firms in America and is a leading light of the Charter Schools movement. As such, his construction firm has benefited mightily from taxpayer monies awarded to it by the Department of Education.
Because of these complicated and intertwining alliances, Karloutsos’ and Rondos’ circle of friends make the Patriarchate of Constantinople a “hostage” of the State Department. According to Katehon, “[Karloutsos’] participation in the organizing committee of the Council reflects the desire of the American special services to directly influence this Council.”
https://www.monomakhos.com/the-phanar-crete-and-the-globalists/
Wow! That’s a heck of a lot of research there. Thanks for following the $ and the ties and conflicts of interest, so we don’t have to.
“And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.”
(Eph.5.11)
This was awhile ago. But. . .
I think the Maiden coup was the last straw for most people: Soros is behind these color revolutions. They use whatever NGOs are out there to take down govts.
Yeah, it truly is GoT at this point. But you expect that in a worldview war. Each side is fighting for its respective sense of reality to prevail.
Oh no! Lord have mercy!
🙏🏻😢☦️
Listen:
https://youtu.be/O5_f9f6B8sc
Lord have mercy. Lord have mercy. Lord have mercy.
So many parents with babies in their arms.
I was in a 7.0 in Hawaii in the mid 70s but their buildings are built on rollers so it’s a different experience.
I was in a 5.9 quake in my home that threw me into a cabinet where I scraped my knee, and later a 6.0 that shook so violently I would not have been able to walk across the room but this is all normal Southern California stuff. Nothing. A day in a life.
Their earthquake was 501.187 times stronger than the 6.0 I experienced in my home. It’s hard to fathom. https://earthquake.usgs.gov/education/calculator.php
My house was built on rock AND had 4 steal beams anchoring it to the foundation, and even then, it looked like someone had shaken it like a snow globe. A huge bolder rolled down in the canyon next to us and demolished a car. Half the water in my pool came out and there were cracks all over but NOTHING AND I MEAN NOTHING like what these poor people are going through. They’re experiencing hell on earth.
***
Seismologists are saying this was ‘significantly bigger’ than previous earthquakes in this region. While this area has many earthquakes every year caused by the ongoing motion of the tectonic plates, today’s earthquake is particularly large and devastating as so much energy was released. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) states that only three earthquakes bigger than magnitude 6 have happened within 250km of this location since 1970. At magnitude 7.8, the February 6 event is significantly bigger than ones the area has experienced before, releasing more than twice as much energy as the largest previously recorded earthquake in the region (magnitude 7.4).
Modern seismologists use the moment magnitude scale, which represents the amount of energy released by an earthquake (the Richter scale is outdated, though is sometimes wrongly quoted in the news). This scale is non-linear: each step up represents 32 times more energy released. That means a magnitude 7.8 actually releases around 6,000 times more energy than the more moderate magnitude 5 earthquakes that might usually happen in the region.
We tend to think of earthquake energy as coming from a single location, or epicentre, but they are actually caused by movement along an area of a fault. The bigger the earthquake the larger the fault area that will have moved. For something as large as this magnitude 7.8 there is likely to have been movement over an area roughly 190km long and 25km wide. This means the shaking will be felt over a very large area.
Severe to violent shaking (enough to cause significant property damage) is estimated to have been felt by 610,000 people in the surrounding area up to around 80km away north-eastwards along the tectonic plate boundary. Light shaking was felt as far away as the Turkish capital of Istanbul (around 815km away), as well as Baghdad in Iraq (800km) and Cairo in Egypt (950km).
What about aftershocks?
After major earthquakes there will be many smaller earthquakes known as aftershocks as the crust readjusts to the changes in stress. These can continue for days to years after the initial event. In the first 12 hours after the initial tremor in southeast Turkey there were already three other earthquakes above magnitude 6.0. The first was a 6.7 which happened only 11 minutes after the first shock, and there have been hundreds of smaller magnitude aftershocks.
Later in the morning another very large magnitude 7.5 occurred further to the north on a different but adjacent fault system: the Sürgü Fault. Technically this one was powerful enough to count as a separate earthquake in its own right, though it is likely to have been triggered by the first earthquake, and it will generate its own series of aftershocks.
While aftershocks are usually significantly smaller than the main shock, they can have equally devastating consequences, further damaging infrastructure that was damaged by the first earthquake and hampering rescue efforts.
As the aftermath of this major earthquake continues to be felt by the people living in this region, we can only hope that international aid gets to Turkey and Syria as soon as possible to help in ongoing rescue efforts, amid the ongoing aftershocks. https://theconversation.com/turkey-syria-earthquake-a-seismologist-explains-what-just-happened-199340#:~:text=This%20area%20of%20Turkey%20is,to%20be%20pushed%20out%20westwards.
***
Buildings, especially tall buildings on sand, cannot withstand something like this. The largest aftershock usually happens 3 days later. – It is freezing there. Where are they going to go?
Please, PLEASE, someone, find out how we can help these people.
“My people” are there and the Greek woman I talked to (she said her name was Souli) was right. Souli (Greek: Σούλι) is a municipality in Epirus, northwestern Greece. Her people are in Greece and anyone outside of Greece who wants to help Greek Orthodox Christians or just human beings who have families and loved ones, lets say in the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul or in Syria, Lebanon, Cyprus, and the rest of Turkey need our help, too.
Not Greek? Go away, says Souli. Don’t need your help or your money.
I hung up on her.
Lord have mercy, Indeed.
You were right to hang up on her.
You could say that she did us all a favor: in one unfortunate phone call, she exposed the mockery that is all the happy talk about the GOA/EP being “ecumenical.”
It is worth noting that Archbishop Elpidophoros’ mother is an Arabic speaking Orthodox Christian from Antioch where his two older brothers were born. This area of Turkey still has several thousand Arabic speaking Orthodox Christians who remained there after Turkey took over the area after invading French Mandate Syria in 1939. Let us hope and pray for all Antiochians caught up in this tragedy in their historic homeland.
Kephalonitis, let us hope so.
Thank you for sharing the life threatening hellish experience you lived through. Sounded very bad. You know a lot about earthquakes. I appreciate your info share.
Every nation needs to help. There is not much news available regarding aid to Turkey and Syria nor have we yet to hear anything from Big Bird. I saw many short videos on Twitter this am. Buried people, buildings imploding,etc. I was crying.
Did Biden address the catastrophe in the SOTU? Did he promise billions of dollars of relief to the people of Syria? Or is he too busy destroying the people of The Ukraine? This sounds cruel, I know, but my heartstrings are played out. These countries are surrounded by wealthy Arabs who share the same faith. My country is dying a slow death from a corrupt elite. I am compelled to give my tax dollars to people all over the world. I won’t be giving any more out of pocket.
May God be merciful.
You know, in a way it’s good he’s out there because it’s impossible to hide what’s going on anymore. – George and I have talked about this. What if Biden, et al. are trying to destroy Ukraine by keeping this war going on because if Russia buries Ukraine, it will bury all the compromising information Ukraine has on them. Maybe Zelensky is working for them.
Read this comment today
Moon of Alabama
“Being on the nations scheduled to be “rolled up” Syria has been targeted for destruction for many years now. They are being punished for being allies with Russia, functioning independently and not being s vassal to the USA and it’s vassals. Syria was engulfed in one of the worst color revolution wars in recent history and with some help they have prevailed. Libya was not so fortunate. To this day USA forces are in Syria, training insurgents and overseeing the theft of it’s oil. “Make the economy scream” as per the Kissinger quote is cruel method of inflicting pain on the populace in order to harness their discontent. When the USA and it’s “allies” continue this sinister stranglehold, they will continue to confirm their draconian nature.
Posted by: Chevrus | Feb 6 2023 16:01 utc | 2
Gail-
I too, grew up in Southern Cal [Laguna Beach, Dana Pt and college -USD] in the 70’s and 80’s and was colored blind as well. In fact, I didn’t EVEN realize some of my close friends were Hispanic Mexican!!![ Turns out I am a WPM White Privileged Male]
About the WPM thing. I didn’t know that I was that either. My folks grew up in the Depression, my Dad was a decorated WWII and Korean War Vet- Silver Star, CIB, and Purple Heart; went thru Chicago Law School after. Mom collected soap slivers, melted them down to make new bars…We all worked through High School and college. Funny the things you didn’t-don’t know.
Doxa to Theo, John D
Let’s see. For me, I started out in San Diego where I was born in the same hospital as my mother and grandfather. Then, after school at ASU, Dana Point in 1976. San Clemente in 1978, Laguna Beach in 1980 and Huntington Beach in 1981-1983. Then Brea for decades.
See everybody? In Southern California we WERE color blind and I still am.
Of all regions affected by the quakes, the one with the highest death toll is Hatay Province, Turkey—the location of the Great City of Antioch (Antakya). In that city alone, “hundreds of buildings…collapsed.”
Lord, have mercy!
!يا رب ارحم
Κύριε, ἐλέησον!
Lord have mercy.
Lord have mercy! But, not understanding your numbers above: The quake killed more than 17,000 people (estimates now go as high as 2,800),
Not sure if you’re saying the numbers don’t make sense to you because you think they should be lower, higher, different, or that it isn’t possible for more than X, but as high as Y???
Obviously the numbers are horrific. But I hoped with my comment to get you to look at the zeros in your OP. did you first mean 1,700? It could be 17,000 were killed but we don’t have those numbers yet. May God have mercy.
On August 17, 1999, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck the city of Izmit in the northwestern region of Turkey. It was reported that 17,000 people died. These figures have been repeated in a number of early articles. It could be that Gail initially saw this and didn’t realize that it was about the 1999 earthquake and not this one. (The first time I saw mention of it I thought it was about the recent earthquake, but read further and realized it was about 1999.) This one occurred in the South. I can’t find anything yet to confirm that Istanbul suffered any damage or deaths.
Well, having replied to CS Louis’ post I then read the following elsewhere: “According to the Associated Press, 5,600 buildings have collapsed and several of them came down today during aftershocks amid search and rescue operations. The current recorded death toll is over 4,300 people, with the World Health Organization (WHO) predicting the total loss of life could exceed 20,000. This is just horrific.”
No, Father Serafim, I didn’t get the wrong earthquake! But thank you.
***
To CS Louis:
Quote: “The quake killed more than 17,000 people (estimates now go as high as 2,800), including at least 1,000 in Istanbul amid widespread destruction. Experts have long warned a large quake could devastate Istanbul
Source: The Guardian.
Date/Time Stamp: Mon 6 Feb 2023 11.07 EST
URL: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/06/turkey-earthquake-2023-gaziantep
Will this satisfy the concern? I’m not sure preliminary numbers like this are too helpful. They’re more a ballpark to give people some idea of the magnitude. Obviously, it is too soon to know the actual numbers. It will take a few days before they start reporting the missing and presumed dead. People will die of their injuries, which will have to be added. People will die because of a lack of clean water and food, as well as die to disease.
The easiest way to verify things like this is to copy and paste a section of the piece you’re confused about and Google it. It usually pops up something.
It doesn’t appear that the article you linked from the Guardian mentions any destruction in Istanbul resulting from
the current quake.
Istanbul was unharmed.
Maybe you’re looking at the wrong article.
I’m not sure, I see only one link that you provided? That one is indeed discussing the current quake in the East of the country, but does not mention the capital. This time around Istanbul was not affected. It’s not really a controversial statement. There’s literally zero articles about destruction in Istanbul.
I doubt one could hide news of a major catastrophe in one of the world’s busiest capital cities.
As I indicated in the post, I pulled the information from multiple sources. This was just hours after the event. My intent was to bring attention to the story. Not to write the story or to verify the information. If some of the information is about a previous event, it was not presented that way when I published it and I knew nothing about an earthquake a decade ago to compare it to.
If you Google “”17,000 people including at least 1,000 in Istanbul,” you’ll see probably a dozen articles out there.
Apologies, the reason I was drilling down on the “Istanbul” was not to pick at an error obsessively. Not my intent! I was just making sure that you, Gail, had understood this was not the case. In comments above you had mentioned a communication with the GOA where you had said to them something about deaths in Istanbul, and I wanted to make sure you understood one of the possible reasons for confusion.
Again, sorry – really not a big deal.
Also, while I was busy correcting you I had made a mistake myself. Istanbul is not the capital – Ankara is.
PS – noticed there’s another Theo, so will switch to TheoD
OK, I get it. Thanks. 🙂
I think I figured out the problem. If you look at the article (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/06/turkey-earthquake-2023-gaziantep) way down at the bottom, it says:
“Turkey is in one of the world’s most active earthquake zones, with land stretching over the Anatolian fault line in the north of the country that has caused large and destructive tremors. İzmit and the surrounding Kocaeli region, close to Istanbul, was rocked by a 7.4-magnitude earthquake in 1999, the worst to hit Turkey in decades.”
Then there is a big picture showing a view of destroyed settlements and damaged vehicles in Aleppo, Syria.
And then the rest of the article continues and says:
“The quake killed more than 17,000 people, including at least 1,000 in Istanbul, amid widespread destruction. Experts have long warned a large quake could devastate Istanbul.
Naci Görür, an earthquake expert with Turkey’s Academy of Sciences, urged local officials to immediately check the region’s dams for cracks to avert potentially catastrophic flooding.
I didn’t connect the two (I didn’t see it) because there was a picture in between and I knew nothing about a previous earthquake until much later. I just saw the bottom part. To make sure other outlets were reporting what the Guardian said, I just googled the phrase, “17,000 people, including at least 1,000 in Istanbul.” There were and are a lot of them so I assumed it was good information. – Oh, geez. And I got so irritated over all this.
That woman probably was confused by what I was saying. But she didn’t know about any earthquake anywhere. I first said Turkey and when she said “we don’t have people there” I then said, “You don’t have people in the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul?” In her defense, it hadn’t been that long since it happened which is probably why she didn’t know what in the world I was talking about. I wish I had never written that post. I may delete it. I’ll talk to George and see what he wants me to do.
I think there’s an extra 0 typo on that 17,000 number. It just doesn’t make sense in its immediate context otherwise. (Though I don’t doubt the numbers will climb much higher.) Initial estimates I saw were closer to 1,700 dead.
The quote is in reference to the 1999 earthquake.
Thank you, Father, for the clarification.
Thank you for the link Gail. The quote you posted from that article is in fact about the 1999 earthquake, not Monday’s earthquake. Also, in Monday’s earthquake Istanbul was not damaged and there were no deaths there. I’m not at all trying to squabble so no need to post this.
On another note, devil worship at the Grammy’s brought to you by Pfizer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUzuN1FB5Xo
Even an atheist like Jimmy Dore is appalled by this example of depravity.
It’s really just them being themselves, mocking the whole idea of religion and conventional morality. I’m sure they’re atheists and believe neither in God nor Satan. Sincere satanism would at least be a recognition of the supernatural but even the much publicized “satanic temple” admit they are simply atheists rejecting conventional boundaries.
It’s just trolling religion.
Misha, one or the best comedic lines I heard was “Satanism is just atheism with a floor show.”