8 days have passed since the Kahramanmaraş earthquake, which struck several areas in southern Turkey and northwestern Syria, leaving tens of thousands dead and injured, and significant material losses, and its damage is still unfolding day after day.
Even today, the two countries count the size of the losses caused by this devastating earthquake, which had a magnitude of 7.7 on the Richter scale, and experts described it as the worst humanitarian disaster in the region in a hundred years.
The earthquake occurred at 4.17 minutes in the morning of Monday, February 6, and within a few minutes, entire streets were destroyed, the features of cities changed, and the geography of the place changed, and only 180 seconds was enough to shake the layers of the earth.
And it was only hours that revealed the darkness and revealed with it the damage caused by the earthquake, and the death toll accelerated, as it began with hundreds, and soon jumped to thousands and then tens of thousands, and the statistics of the victims are still not closed yet.
The massive destruction that affected about 10 Turkish states extended itself to northern Syria, coinciding with a very cold depression, and a severe shortage of search and rescue equipment.
And it increased the suffering of the Syrians, who have been afflicted by the scourge of the war that has been going on for more than 12 years.
The earthquake forced hundreds of thousands of Turks to sleep in the open air, and the government, along with an army of volunteers, took care of their most basic needs of food, drink, and means of heating. In Syria, the earthquake brought back to mind scenes of displacement after the destruction of Aleppo and Idlib, but this time not with explosive barrels.
Aid convoys and rescue teams flocked to Turkey, and tongues resounded with supplications and prayers of solidarity...
while northern Syria was less fortunate, and less receiving support, and this is recognized by the United Nations, which said that the international community had "failed" the Syrians.
A week later, rescue operations did not stop, searching for survivors under the rubble, despite the low hopes of finding them.
Some believe that Turkey and northern Syria need many years, or perhaps decades, to recover from the effects of the earthquake, but the bet remains on the amazing human ability to move forward and dust off.