The Syrian/Turkish Earthquake, by Simon Lapham

Please enjoy this article from DMHS's "Introduction to Journalism" class!

A natural disaster impacted Syria and Turkey harshly on Feb 6 as more than 36,000 people died in total in an extremely destructive 7.8 magnitude earthquake which is almost one of the worst on the magnitude scale. Although this is not one of the worst earthquakes in Syria and Turkey, it still affected millions of people.

Earthquakes are caused by tectonic plates. Tectonic plates have been moving ever since the world was created. The world's 7 continents are the product of the tectonic plates moving for billions of years. But as the tectonic plates move, they can cause earthquakes above ground, and just recently there was a big earthquake in Syria and Turkey. When looking at the magnitude scale for earthquakes, you are able to see that this was a 7.8 magnitude earthquake which is one of the worst earthquakes there can be. 

Once the damage was investigated, the “Total damage would cost billions of dollars to reconstruct”, said CNBC news. Many people were left without a home and to help these people out, the United Nations has already donated over 1.7 billion dollars to aid these people. But how much money we donate still won't affect the fact that over 36,000 people died and that there are hundreds of people left without any family left. 

Many people were left traumatized after the earthquake such as a woman named Umm Sultan. She was interviewed while living in a shelter, “We were sleeping under the trees … but it is so cold we came here.” Sultan had to flee her home as it collapsed. She resorted to sleeping under a tree, but as it got too cold she had to go to a shelter that gave her a tent. All of her family members had died besides her 2 year old granddaughter who was in her arms at the time of the interview. “I wish we had died with everyone else so we don’t go through this,” she said. “We survived only to live this misery and agony.”  Many people are suffering in the same way.

Many countries around the world are already getting funds together to help restore Turkey and Syria, and all efforts to help these countries out are greatly appreciated. People are working together to rebuild their country, and although it will take many years to rebuild what these countries had, many places have already taken action to start rebuilding.

Simon Lapham is a 9th grader at DMHS. He likes writing.