Day: November 12, 2022

Türkiye and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus will hold a nationwide drill on Saturday, marking the 23rd anniversary of the Duzce earthquake.

On Nov. 12, 1999, the city of Duzce was rocked by a 7.1-magnitude earthquake which lasted 30 seconds, killing 710 people and injuring 2,679 others.

The Earthquake Moment Country Exercise will begin at 6:57 p.m. local time (1557 GMT) under the coordination of the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD).

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will give a speech before the start of the exercise.

Duzce earthquake came after the Aug. 17, 1999 earthquake which hit Türkiye’s northwestern city of Izmit, and killed 18,373 people and injured 23,781 with its 7.6 magnitude, according to official figures from AFAD.

Source: Anadolu Agency

We cannot prevent an earthquake but can minimize loss of life and property, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday, minutes before the country conducted a nationwide drill to promote emergency preparedness and response.

The exercise was held in Türkiye’s 81 provinces and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus at 6.57 p.m. (1557 GMT) local time to mark the 23rd anniversary of a deadly earthquake in the Turkish city of Duzce.

Citizens received an audible alert on their phones, along with a SMS notification in Turkish and English that read: “This is an AFAD earthquake drill announcement. At the moment, drop-cover-hold on drill of moment of earthquake is being carried out all over the country.” Announcements were also made in mosques, municipalities and on TV and radio stations.

“We expect you to participate in the exercise voluntarily and test your reflexes and the reflexes of your environment against a possible earthquake. I believe that with the few minutes you will devote to this exercise, we will gain an experience that will add a lifetime to our lives together,” Erdogan said in a video message earlier.

Noting that scientists are in agreement that the possibility of major earthquakes is increasing in Türkiye, he said: “Yes, it is not possible to prevent an earthquake, but it is in our hands to take measures to prevent loss of life and property.”

He said Türkiye learned from bitter experiences of the past and now has an integrated disaster management strategy, which has been created with coordination of the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD).

The plan consists of three stages, including pre-disaster preparedness and risk reduction, response during disaster and recovery after disaster.

“Within the scope of pre-disaster preparedness and risk reduction studies, we make our cities resistant to disasters with mass housing and urban transformation projects, reach our citizens in a short time with our effective management in the event of a disaster, and carry out search and rescue efforts quickly,” he said. “With our post-disaster recovery strategy, we implement projects that will replace the destroyed with much better ones.”

“For this reason, we declared 2020 the year of preparedness for disasters, 2021 the year of disaster education, and this year the year of disaster exercises,” he added.

The president said that in 2021 nearly 57 million citizens were reached out with various training materials, while in 2022 a total of 94,207 exercises were held to test Türkiye’s readiness.

On Nov. 12, 1999, Duzce was rocked by a 7.1-magnitude earthquake which lasted 30 seconds, killing 710 people and injuring 2,679.

Duzce earthquake came after the Aug. 17, 1999 earthquake which hit Türkiye’s northwestern city of Izmit, and killed 18,373 people and injured 23,781 with its 7.6 magnitude, according to official figures from the AFAD.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Two more French citizens have been detained in Iran, bringing the total number of people from France held in the Islamic republic to seven, the country’s foreign minister said on Saturday.

“We are concerned about two other compatriots and it appears from the last verification that they are also detained,” Catherine Colonna told French daily Le Parisien. “We demand their immediate release, access to consular protection.”

“My Iranian counterpart, with whom I had a long and difficult conversation, made a commitment to respect this right of access. I’m waiting for it to be realized,” she added.

Iran has been rocked by protests since the Sept. 16 death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a young woman, after her arrest for an alleged breach of dress rules.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will attend the 17th G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, the Turkish Communications Directorate said on Saturday.

Erdogan will hold meetings with world leaders on the sidelines the summit, which will take place on Nov. 15-16.

He will also meet his Indonesian counterpart Joko Widodo on Monday. The two leaders will discuss bilateral relations, and steps that can be taken to further develop cooperation.

Source: Anadolu Agency

An unprecedented storm in Spain on Saturday has shut down the Valencia airport, left one minor dead, thousands without power and caused significant flooding.

The worst-hit area so far is the region of Valencia, where some towns have begun to resemble Venice after torrential rainfall.

The weather station at the Valencia airport recorded 66.1 liters of rain per square meter in just one hour — the most intense rainfall on record for November and the third-most torrential in recorded history, according to Spanish meteorological agency AEMET.

The torrential rain is accompanied by strong winds, hail and lightning.

At first, flights to the Valencia airport were being deferred because of flooding, but Spain’s airport service later announced that its runway has become “inoperative” due to a lightning strike.

On Friday night, a 17-year-old boy was killed in the province of Zaragoza when a tree he was taking shelter beneath fell on top of him.

In Tarragona, Catalonia, the storm has left around 6,600 residents without power.

Flooding has also been reported in more central areas of Spain such as Avila.

This is yet another record-breaking weather event in Spain this year, which saw the hottest summer and hottest October on record.

According to AEMET, since record-keeping began in 1959, the Balearic Sea has never been this warm at this time of year.

The warm water may help explain the unseasonable strength of this weekend’s storm.

“A warm sea does not necessarily mean torrential rains, but if the right atmospheric conditions are in place, a warm sea means more available energy and more power for convection and storms,” tweeted AEMET.

The agency said climate change is behind warming temperatures on land and at sea.

“Although it’s hard to attribute individual phenomena to climate change, what’s true is that the Mediterranean area is already noticing an increase in torrential rainfall,” it added.

Source: Anadolu Agency

A fire swept through dozens of refugee tents in Yemen’s western province of al-Hudaydah on Saturday, according to local authorities.

A statement by the provincial authority said the blaze broke out in a refugee camp in the town of Al-Khukha, south of Al-Hudaydah.

No injuries were reported.

The cause of the fire remains unclear.

According to the statement, the fire has caused to displace around 100 families in the camp.

Yemen has been engulfed by violence and instability since 2014, when Iran-aligned Houthi rebels captured much of the country, including the capital, Sanaa.

Thousands of Yemenis have been displaced from their homes since the outbreak of the 8-year conflict.

* Writing by Ahmed Asmar

Source: Anadolu Agency

Carrying posters, rags and other items symbolizing the terror outfit, they gathered in the Norra Bantorget Square in central Stockholm.

Turkish security forces regularly conduct anti-terror operations in northern Iraq, a region where PKK terrorists have hideouts and bases from where they plot cross-border attacks.

Abandoning decades of military non-alignment, Sweden and Finland formally applied to join NATO in May, a decision spurred by Russia’s war on Ukraine.

But Türkiye voiced objections to their membership bids, accusing the two Nordic nations of tolerating and even supporting terrorist groups.

Stockholm and Helsinki struck a deal with Ankara in June, which requires them not to provide support to the PKK and its offshoots, or to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Türkiye. Ankara has also called for extradition of terror suspects.

Turkish officials, including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, have warned Türkiye will not give the nod to their memberships until its concerns are addressed.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg recently visited Türkiye to discuss the membership bids, which require unanimous approval from the alliance’s 30 members.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US, and EU – has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children and infants. The YPG is its Syrian offshoot.

Source: Anadolu Agency