Taiwan was rocked by a magnitude 7.4 earthquake that killed nine people and injured over 1,000. The earthquake struck Hualien County on April 3, BBC News reported. The earthquake was the largest to hit Taiwan in 25 years and caused tsunami alerts in Japan and the Philippines. In September 1999, the island was struck by a 7.6 magnitude earthquake that killed 2,400 people.
On Sept. 8, 2023, a 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck Morocco, killing thousands in the Al Haouz, Ouarzazate and Marrakech provinces, NBC News reported. Marrakech is the country’s most visited tourist attraction and home to a UNESCO World Heritage site. Video footage shared by NBC News showed people evacuating city establishments and attempting to find safety from crumbling buildings.
An earthquake starting in Kahramanmaraş has caused over 40,000 recorded deaths as of Feb. 14. Photo courtesy of IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation via Flickr.
Jendayi Leben-Martin ’24
Global Editor
On Feb. 9, 2023, an earthquake and subsequent tremor with magnitudes of 7.8 and 7.5 respectively started in Kahramanmaraş, Turkey and rocked southeastern Turkey and northwestern Syria, Al Jazeera reported. BBC News explained that the earthquake, which seismologists say is one of the largest ever recorded in Turkey, was widespread, resulting in the mass destruction of thousands of buildings across the region. Chris Elders, professor at the School of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Curtin University in Australia, told Al Jazeera that the aftershocks stretched “a distance of about 100 km to 200 km (62 to 124 miles)” from the epicenter in Kahramanmaraş.
According to James Elder, a spokesperson for the United Nations, the 10 provinces affected by the earthquake are home to approximately 4.6 million children, while the affected areas in Syria housed 2.5 million children, CNN reported. Days after the quake, people buried under rubble are still being rescued, but the death toll is still expected to increase. According to Al Jazeera, as of Feb. 14, over 40,000 deaths have been recorded, and UNICEF confirmed that the number will continue to grow according to a CNN article.
Adele Akbulut ’24, who is part of a small group of students affiliated with nudasyria.org at Mount Holyoke that have begun organizing fundraisers to help provide relief for those displaced by the earthquake, spoke about the resources that Turkey and Syria have lost, stating, “Many of the people there are now homeless —the ones that are alive — they are all outside.” The student group will be fundraising outside of Blanchard Dining Commons until Feb. 17.
In the wake of the earthquake, the U.N. has begun funneling aid into the region through Bab Al-Salam and Al Ra’ee, two points between Turkey and Syria.On Feb. 13, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad opened the cross points, and they will remain open for at least a three-month period to allow aid into the countries.According to U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths via CNN, 11 trucks have carried resources into the region through Bal Al-Salam, and 26 more have passed into the region through the Bab Al-Hawa crossing, as of Feb. 14.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
While the death toll of the recent earthquake was lower, many people were reminded of the 7.5 magnitude earthquake that killed an estimated 150 people in 2018. Infrastructure, including the power grid, was damaged in the Sept. 11 earthquake.
By Sophie Soloway ’23 & Hannah Raykher ’23
Editor-in-Chief | H.R. Manager
Content warning: This article discusses mass death.
An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.6 struck Papua New Guinea on Sunday, Sept. 11. Al-Jazeera reported that this natural disaster — which struck at a 38-mile depth according to the United States Geological Survey — sparked landslides and damaged nearby infrastructure. The quake resulted in at least seven deaths, according to reports from Fox Weather.
This earthquake comes four years after another hit the country. In February 2018, a 7.5 magnitude earthquake killed an estimated 150 people, reported Al Jazeera. This quake similarly triggered landslides and disrupted natural resource access and health care services. According to the World Health Organization, “Some 544,000 people were affected with 270,000 in need of immediate humanitarian assistance.”
James Marape, the Papua New Guinean Prime Minister, referenced the previous earthquake in a statement, according to Al-Jazeera. He stated that “he expected the damage to be less than that from a 2018 earthquake and series of aftershocks.”
According to Corrine Liu ’23, an environmental studies major, the country’s geographic location plays a role in its frequent earthquakes. They shared that, “PNG gets a lot of earthquakes because it sits on essentially an arc of faults in the Pacific Ocean, so it’s a hotspot for seismic activity.”
Liu, who has also experienced earthquakes in their home state of California, stated that their own memories of the natural disasters “showed how we are fully vulnerable to the world and that with most natural phenomena, everyday people have no control or way of best preparing.”
Papua New Guinea’s hotspot is also known as the Ring of Fire, according to Sarah Parsons ’24, a geography major. Parsons compared the country’s geology to Oregon, their home state on the west coast of the U.S., which experiences “A lot more seismic [and] volcanic activity.”
Following the earthquake, officials have told Reuters that the depth of its epicenter has limited some of the damage that may otherwise have been possible. Beyond the seven reported deaths since Sunday, Police Commissioner David Manning told Reuters that, “The regional power grid, internet cables, roads and highways had been damaged.”
An Al Jazeera report suggested that the state’s lost infrastructure and financial constraints may pose more prominent challenges in its recovery from this earthquake, especially given its socioeconomic status, stating, “With government resources limited, much of the rescue effort has been carried out by small private companies and volunteers.”
