The people of Turkey were deep in their slumbers when the calamity came uninvited. Syria also saw the tremblors coming in to heave destruction unseen of its kind in recent years. The death toll is expected to cross 20000. This makes the disaster a tad crueler than the horrific 1999 quakes that ached Turkey. Back then, the death toll was reported as 17000. Coming to 2023, the quakes have wreaked havoc in a way that the buildings are coming down akin to a pack of cards falling apart. Many are feared to be still stuck inside the fallen remnants of Turkeys' old houses. South Turkey and Northern Syria have been turned unrecognizable. These places now resemble more of a war-torn country. Both countries have made fervent appeals to rush aid. India is among many other nations that have agreed to provide support during these testing times for both Ankara and Damascus.

Albeit the interminable war in Ukraine, Russian president Vladimir Putin has also made offers to do the necessary help to lift both Turkey and Syria from the pits of trouble. The spirit espoused by many countries to help out the two nations is a spectre of generosity in itself. The devastation incurred by the two countries cant be gauged, and it takes a long haul for these countries to break the shackles of calamity and return back to normalcy. Meanwhile, the picture is more distressing for Syria as the country is mired deep in the endless civil war between the government and the Islamic extremists.

Researchers said the earthquake was a strike-slip quake, where two tectonic plates slide past each other horizontally. The Earth is divided up into different pieces, “kind of like a jigsaw puzzle,” said Eric Sandvol, a seismologist at the University of Missouri. Those pieces meet at fault lines, where the plates usually grind against each other slowly. But once enough tension builds up, they can snap past each other quickly, releasing a large amount of energy. While new buildings in cities like Istanbul were designed with modern earthquake standards in mind, this area of southern Turkey has many older high-rise buildings. Rapid construction in Syria — plus years of war — may have also left structures vulnerable, researchers said.

The rescue workers are now braving snow and rain to move ahead with clearing remnants of houses to find bodies trapped. More than 1000 people in turkey went homeless after the quakes. Meanwhile, tents, blankets, and other essentials are pouring in thousands as relief help for the devastated ones. But not giving much stoke into politics that separated them so far, all nations are joining hands to help the two countries get back on track to normalcy. If such is the spirit, the wait won't be that long for these countries to emerge better.