Death toll rises above 5,000 after Turkey, Syria earthquakes

 Freezing weather conditions and snowfall in the devastated region have increased the difficulties for rescue workers.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has declared seven days of national mourning, and Syria has appealed to the United Nations for help following devastating earthquakes that killed more than 5,000 people and toppled buildings across southeast Turkey and northern Syria.

Authorities fear the death toll from Monday’s predawn magnitude 7.8 temblor, followed by a magnitude 7.6 earthquake and several aftershocks will continue to climb as rescuers looked for survivors among tangles of metal and concrete spread across a region already suffering under Syria’s 12-year civil war and a refugee crisis.

Rescuers searched through the frigid night into Tuesday morning, hoping to dig more survivors out of the rubble as those trapped cried out for help from beneath mountains of debris.

Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said on Tuesday that the death toll from the earthquakes in Turkey had risen to 3,419.

Orhan Tatar, an official with Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), said earlier on Tuesday that 20,426 others were injured. Tatar said more than 5,700 buildings had also been destroyed.

In Syria, at least 1,602 people were killed and about 3,500 others were injured, according to the Ministry of Health and the White Helmets rescue organisation.

Freezing winter weather conditions and snowfall in the devastated region have added to the plight of many thousands of people left injured and homeless by the earthquake. Downed buildings and destroyed roads have hampered efforts to find survivors and get crucial aid into affected areas.

Al Jazeera’s Sinem Koseoglu, reporting from Istanbul, said millions of people need help.

“And their need is even more acute because it is winter and they are facing cold temperatures, snow and rain.”

Ten cities in southern Turkey have been declared disaster areas, according to Al Jazeera’s Natasha Ghoneim, reporting from Istanbul. Freezing temperatures and snow have hampered rescue efforts, and more bad weather is expected to hit the region. Electricity supplies and natural gas have been cut off in many areas and the government is working to restore both services.

“A full picture of the devastation is only starting to emerge – devastation that will likely become more evident as the sun rises” on Tuesday, Ghoneim said.

Seismic activity continued to rattle the region on Monday, including another jolt nearly as powerful as the initial earthquake.

The US Geological Survey measured the initial earthquake at 7.8, with a depth of 18km (11 miles). Hours later, a 7.6 magnitude temblor also struck. The second jolt caused a multi-storey apartment building in the Turkish city of Sanliurfa to topple onto the street in a cloud of dust as bystanders screamed, according to video of the scene.

Dramatic video footage aired on Turkish television showed buildings collapsing in real time. Visuals showed rescue workers pulling a child alive from a flattened building. The child was then reunited with distraught parents in snow-covered streets.

More than 7,800 people have been rescued across 10 provinces, according to Orhan Tatar, an official with Turkey’s disaster management authority. Strained medical facilities have quickly filled with injured people, rescue workers said.

The Syrian American Medical Society, which runs hospitals in northern Syria and southern Turkey, said in a statement that its facilities were “overwhelmed with patients filling the hallways” and called urgently for “trauma supplies and a comprehensive emergency response to save lives and treat the injured”.

Governments and aid agencies have rushed to deploy personnel, funds and equipment to Turkey and Syria.

Jordan is sending emergency aid to Syria and Turkey on the orders of King Abdullah II, while Egypt has pledged urgent humanitarian help to Turkey. Lebanon’s cash-strapped government is also sending Red Cross and Civil Defence first responders and firefighters to Turkey to help with its rescue efforts.

The European Union has mobilised search and rescue teams, and the bloc’s Copernicus satellite system has been activated to provide emergency mapping services. At least 13 member countries have offered assistance. The United Kingdom and United States said they are also ready to send help to Syria, but Washington has ruled out dealing directly with the Syrian government.

Germany’s foreign ministry said it is coordinating its aid response with EU partners and readying deliveries of emergency generators, tents, blankets and water treatment equipment.

The US is coordinating immediate assistance to NATO-member Turkey, including teams to support search and rescue efforts. In California, nearly 100 Los Angeles County firefighters and structural engineers, along with six specially trained dogs, were being sent to Turkey to help with rescue efforts.

Russian rescue teams from the Emergencies Ministry are preparing to fly to Syria, where the Russian military deployed in that country already has sent 10 units comprising 300 people to help clear debris and search for survivors. The Russian military has set up points to distribute humanitarian assistance. Russia also has offered help to Turkey, which has been accepted.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

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At least 34 people killed in clashes in Somaliland, hospital says

Fighting erupts in the breakaway region between its forces and anti-government fighters, a Somaliland official says.

At least 34 people have been killed in fighting in Somalia’s northern breakaway region of Somaliland, two doctors at a public hospital in the town of Laascaanood say.

Fighting broke out in eastern Somaliland on Monday morning between forces from the region, which declared its independence in 1991, and fighters opposed to its government, Somaliland’s interior minister said. The battle was reported a month after about 20 people were killed in protests over control of disputed areas.

Somaliland has not gained widespread international recognition for its independence and has seen opposition to its claims over land on its eastern border with Puntland, one of Somalia’s semi-autonomous regions.

Mohamed Farah, a doctor at Laascaanood Hospital in the administrative capital of the Sool region, said at least 34 people were killed and 40 injured in Monday’s fighting. Farah said he had seen the bodies brought to the hospital.

A second doctor at the hospital confirmed the death toll and said the facility had been targeted with mortar shells. Somaliland authorities could not immediately be reached for comment on the death toll.

SOURCE: REUTERS

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Deadly protests against regional force in DR Congo

 Hundreds of demonstrators have taken to the streets for a second day in Goma, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

At least two people died on Monday following violent clashes between protesters and Congolese security forces.

The demonstrators accuse the UN and the East African Regional Force of failing to support the Congolese military operations against the M23 rebel group.

Fighting has intensified in the region in recent days with the group taking key towns in eastern DR Congo.

Protesters have taken to the streets in several neighbourhoods of Goma, in North Kivu province, bringing the city to a standstill.

On Monday, security forces fired tear gas to disperse crowds who pelted stones and threw petrol bombs at the UN headquarters in Goma.

Reports said a church in one of the neighbourhoods was demolished during the clashes.

The rebels have captured large swathes of territory in the volatile province in recent days and have threatened to march on to Goma, the region’s commercial hub.

The recent fighting has killed hundreds of people and displaced thousands more.

Source: BBC

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Bank manager arrested for ‘hoarding’ new Nigerian notes

 The Nigerian agency that investigates financial crimes has arrested a branch manager of a commercial bank in the capital, Abuja, for allegedly refusing to load ATMs with cash despite having the redesigned banknotes in the vaults.

The country recently redesigned its currency, but the changeover has not gone according to plan as there are not enough of the new notes to go around.

This has sparked anger and led to spontaneous protests at banks. The deadline for use of old banknotes is on Friday.

On Monday, officers from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) stormed the bank and whisked away the operations manager for questioning.

It said the bank had 29 million Naira ($63,000; £52,000) of the new banknotes in its vaults – which officers ordered to be loaded on ATMs.

It’s unclear if the arrested bank manager has commented on the accusation, but the commission said some banks were “sabotaging government’s monetary policy”.

Source: BBC

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School invites barbers to shave off female students’ hair

 Some new first-year students reporting to a school in western Kenya have had their hair shaved off to comply with a strict “dress” code.

Escorted by their parents and guardians, the new learners queued at various desks to go through the admission process, those found to have long hair were directed to a group of barbers.

“Welcome Kereri Girls, to the girls who are here for the admission process and you have long hair, it is the school’s policy that you get shaved,” an announcer said, local media report.

“To my left, there is a barber please proceed there to get assistance. Thank you,” the announcer said.

A local TV station shared a video of a learner having her hair shaved off.

Some people commenting on the story have criticised the Kisii County boarding school, saying it was focussing on less-important issues instead of the learners’ welfare.

“Another problem with our Kenyan schools, instead of focusing on the mental health and welfare of students they focus on the physical issues – a head that is perfectly shaved but with poor mental health is like a 2023 model ranger over without an engine,” one tweeter posted.

“Students shouldn’t be shaved bald with the hot sun. The hair protects the skin. Sad that we still encourage this nonsense,” politician Robert Alai tweeted.

Strict dress code rules are common in Kenyan education institutions including some universities.

Source: BBC

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Christian Atsu: Ghana star ‘removed from wreckage with injuries’ after quake

 Ghanaian winger Christian Atsu has been pulled from the rubble of a building in Hatay with injuries, his manager Mustafa Özat has told Turkish radio.

The Hatayspor player, whose career has included 107 appearances for Newcastle as well as spells at Chelsea, Everton and Bournemouth, was trapped after the earthquakes that killed at least 4,800 people in Turkey and Syria on 6 February.

Hatay was one of the areas closest to the epicentre of the quake, and has suffered extensive damage. The club’s sporting director Taner Savut remains in the collapsed building,

“Christian Atsu was removed from the wreckage with injuries,” Özat told Turkish radio channel Radyo Gol.

“Unfortunately, our sporting director Taner Savut is still under the rubble.”

Özat added: “Hatay was deeply affected. We are coming towards the end of the most dangerous hours.”

Source: BBC

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South Africans Trapped Inside Prison That Collapsed in Earthquake-Hit Turkey

 South Africa’s ambassador to Turkey, Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba, has confirmed that a prison where seven South Africans were detained collapsed during the deadly series of earthquakes that ripped through Turkey and Syria, reports.

Letsatsi-Duba says her team is not aware of the extent of damage or how many South Africans have made it out alive.

The ambassador added that no other South Africans were reported to have been caught up in the quake, but the prison was a concern.

“We don’t have any people that are working in the area. We are told the prison has also collapsed but we don’t know as yet whether we have survivors or whether people are still trapped under the rubble. We are waiting, anxiously so, to receive information,” said Letsatsi-Duba.

According to News24, the humanitarian aid organization, the Gift of the Givers, said it would deploy its team to help with search-and-rescue efforts in Turkey. It said it expected the death toll in Turkey and Syria to increase as the search continued.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has, on behalf of the Government and people of South Africa, expressed his deep sadness at the large-scale loss of life and extent of injuries inflicted by an earthquake that has affected the nations of Türkiye and Syria. “Our nation and government are deeply saddened by the unthinkable loss of life in Turkiye and Syria. Our hearts go out to families who have lost loved ones or are searching for relatives and we wished injured survivors a full recovery,” said Ramaphosa.

At least 4,800 people had been killed and thousands more injured after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake. The World Health Organisation has warned that the death toll will likely increase as much as eight times, as rescuers find more victims in the rubble.

By Melody Chironda

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Africa: Around 4.2 Million Girls At Risk for Female Genital Mutilation Says Guterres, Stressing Men Must Also Speak Out

 Female Genital Mutilation, or FGM, is an “abhorrent violation of fundamental human rights” said the UN Secretary-General on Monday, marking the International Day of Zero Tolerance against the scourge, which remains a threat for a staggering 4.2 million girls this year.

António Guterres said that the practice of genital cutting, prevalent in some cultures for more than a thousand years, causes lifelong damage to both the physical and mental health of women and girls.

‘Vicious manifestation of the patriarchy’

“It is one of the most vicious manifestations of the patriarchy that permeates our world”, he added.

With more than four million girls at risk this year alone from the pernicious act of gender-based violence, urgent investment together with action is needed, so the world can reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) target of eliminating female genital mutilation by 2030, the UN chief said.

He added that the practice was “rooted in the same gender inequalities and complex social norms that limit women’s participation and leadership and restrict their access to education and employment.

“This discrimination damages the whole of society, and we need urgent action by the whole of society to end it.”

As part of that, the UN sexual and reproductive health agency UNFPA, is partnering this year with UN Children’s Fund UNICEF on eliminating FGM in a campaign themed, Partnership with Men and Boys to transform Social and gender Norms to End FGM.

The agencies are calling for the international community to foster male engagement on just how harmful FGM is and uplift the voices of women and girls.

‘Surge’ of allies against FGM

Initiatives already underway by the UN and NGO partners have already resulted “in a surge of male allies such as religious and traditional leaders, health workers, law enforcement officials, members of civil society and grassroots organisations”, the UN said, “and have led to notable achievements in the protection of women and girls.”

The Secretary-General called on men and boys “everywhere to join me in speaking out and stepping forward to end female genital mutilation, for the benefit of all.”

What is most needed is a commitment to social change, and strong partnerships, to end FGM, once and for all, he concluded.

The UNFPA and UNICEF joint programme to accelerate the elimination of FGM has been running since 2008, and focuses on 17 countries in Africa and the Middle East, and also supports regional and global initiatives.

Support for millions

Through the support of the programme, more than six million girls and women have received prevention, protection and care services, while around 45 million people have made public declarations to abandon FGM practices.

According to UNFPA’s annual report on FGM for 2021, more than 532,000 girls have been prevented from undergoing FGM.

However, UNFPA also estimates that there may be as many as two million cases of FGM by 2030, that would otherwise have been averted, attributable to the regressive nature of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It’s still the case that around one in four girls and women worldwide – or 52 million people – have experienced FGM performed by health personnel, pointing to “an alarming trend in the medicalization of female genital mutilation”, according to a UNICEF analysis in 2020.

Source: allafrica.com

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Burkina Faso gunmen kill 15 Nigerian pilgrims bound for Senegal

The Muslim pilgrims were travelling to a religious ceremony in Senegal through conflict hotspots in northern Burkina Faso and central Mali.

At least 15 Nigerian Muslim pilgrims on their way to Senegal were killed when gunmen in Burkina Faso attacked the buses transporting them, Nigeria’s presidency said on Monday.

“President Muhammadu Buhari has received the tragic news of the murder,” the State House said in a statement, without providing further details on the attack.

A Nigerian presidency spokesperson told Reuters via WhatsApp that the death toll stood at 15 “so far”.

According to a Senegalese religious order, unidentified assailants attacked the convoy of buses on Wednesday and killed 18 passengers.

The pilgrims were on their way to a religious ceremony in Senegal from Niger and Nigeria, a trip that involves crossing conflict hotspots in northern Burkina Faso and central Mali.

“Eighteen passengers lost their lives during these attacks, and most of the survivors were robbed,” the Medina Baye Mosque in Kaolack, the Senegalese town where the victims were headed, said in a statement on Saturday.

Nigeria’s presidency said in the statement that it was in touch with Burkinabe authorities and awaiting the outcome of their investigation into the incident.

Burkina Faso’s foreign affairs minister Olivia Rouamba met with Nigeria’s ambassador to the country on Monday to discuss the killings.

“For the time being there is no concrete information or element picked up on the field that proves the veracity of these facts,” Rouamba said in a statement after the meeting.

She added that authorities had strongly discouraged travel through the north due to “huge risks” of attacks.

Burkina Faso is battling armed groups with links to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS) that spilled over from neighbouring Mali in 2015.

Rebel fighters have spread over the tri-border area between Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger and encroached on coastal West African states despite costly international efforts to stop them.

Regular attacks on towns and villages, army posts and United Nations peacekeepers have caused thousands of deaths, displaced more than two million people across the Sahel and aggravated food insecurity.

SOURCE: REUTERS

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Rage, fear in India’s Azamgarh over land acquisition for airport

 Months-old protest becomes a ‘fight for survival’ as mainly marginalised residents of eight villages resist government’s move.

Azamgarh, India – Cradling her toddler in one arm, Arti Sharma adjusts her saree with another as she picks up the placard that says: “Zameen nahi denge, jaan bhi nahi denge [We will neither give our land nor our lives].”

It is a placard her husband Deepak Sharma had made, days before he succumbed to a heart attack at 31.

Oblivious to the reality, the toddler tries to wipe his mother’s tears as she marches to Khiria Bagh in Uttar Pradesh state’s Azamgarh district, where a protest against the acquisition of land for expansion of an airport has been going on for months.

Arti clutches the placard close to her chest. “It keeps our struggle warm with his memories,” she tells Al Jazeera.

Tens of thousands of people residing in eight villages of Azamgarh call their protest a “fight for survival” and it looks like one. On January 26, as India celebrated its 74th Republic Day which marks the adoption of its constitution in 1950, hundreds of villagers were protesting at Khiria Bagh park.

A 90-year-old man, his frail legs shivering with cold, held a small tricolour – the national flag – in his hand as he declared, “We will fight till our last breath. We won’t move until they bring the bulldozer and run it over us.”

There was an air of desperation at the park. A man in his 30s dragged his wheelchair with a tricolour tied to its handle. A woman held a placard as she ran barefoot on the damp mud. A handful of coins clunk to the walls of the rusty tin box meant to collect donations for the protest – meagre savings from meals skipped to feed the movement.

Children had skipped school, women left their chores half-done, daily wage workers who had not earned for months, farmers forced to postpone weeding of their crops – all stood under the sea of tricolours waving over their heads, protesting against the land acquisition for the proposed international airport at Azamgarh.

In 2004, an airstrip was built in this eastern district of Uttar Pradesh. It was not used until November 2018 when state Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced its expansion and building of an international airport under an ambitious scheme aimed at upgrading India’s underserved air routes.

A budget of nearly $2.4m was allocated the following year for the proposed airport. According to the statements by Vishal Bharadwaj, the district magistrate of Azamgarh, about 270 hectares (670 acres) of land were meant to be acquired from eight villages – Gadanpur, Hichchanpatti, Jigna Karmanpur, Jamua Hariram, Jamua Jolha, Hasanpur, Kadipur Harikesh, Jehra Pipri, Manduri, and Baldev Manduri – for the project.

Of the residents facing displacement due to the project, an overwhelming 90 percent belong to the Dalit and Other Backward Castes (OBCs) communities with an average family of five earning less than $1,200 annually. Dalits, the former “untouchables”, and OBCs fall at the bottom of India’s complex caste hierarchy and have been historically marginalised.

The area is also the basin of the Tamsa River and is known for its diverse crops, including mangoes, high-quality pulses, jackfruit, potato and pigeon peas.

India’s Land Acquisition Act, 2013 recommends a social impact assessment before any land is acquired by the government. After the local government’s approval of the project, a notification regarding the acquisition is published in the official gazette and in at least two local newspapers.

The elected members of local village councils are then notified of the proposed acquisition, and at least 60 days are given to people to raise their objections. After the physical survey of the land, claims regarding the acquisition are addressed and a report is submitted to the government.

But the Azamgarh administration bypassed all these procedures on October 12 last year as district officials, accompanied by armed police, barged into one of the villages without any prior notice to the village head, activist Rajiv Yadav of local NGO Rihai Manch told Al Jazeera.

Since then, the area has been on a boil.

Sunita Bharti, a 22-year-old resident of Jamua Hariram village protesting at Khiria Bagh, recalled the horror.

“They claimed they had come to check the quality of crops. When I asked why they had brought chains and measuring tapes, the subdivisional magistrate shouted at me: ‘Which caste are you from?’”

Bharti, the only person in the eight villages to have reached post-graduation, said she stood her ground.

“I said ‘I am a chamaar, sir’,” she recalled, referring to a social group within Dalits, who are also known as Jatavs.

“To this, he replied, ‘Being a chamaar, you have the audacity to talk to me?’ I was dragged into the police van, threatened and abused. I want to remind him today that it was a Dalit who gave India its constitution.”

India’s first law minister, Bhimrao Ambedkar, who was born a Dalit but converted to Buddhism in his last days in protest against the caste system, is hailed as the architect of the country’s constitution.

Kismatti, 46, from Jigna Karmanpur village, said the villagers were beaten by the police when they protested against the measuring of their land.

“They fractured the hand of a 65-year-old and broke the legs of another man. Four pradhans [village heads] were picked up and falsely charged with consumption of drugs,” she alleged.

Vikas, a high school student from Hasanpur, said he had a message for the district magistrate. “You must have read the constitution. If you had really believed in it, you wouldn’t have done this to us.”

“The district magistrate says the survey was done via drones and official land records. This is completely unlawful,” activist Yadav told Al Jazeera.

District Magistrate Bharadwaj denied the allegations, calling them “concocted”.

“People are putting all these allegations without any proof. It is something they might have now come up with. The survey was conducted only to find out how much, whose and what type of land is required as per the master plan of the airport authority,” he told Al Jazeera.

“We have made it very clear that no one’s land or property will be taken without their consent. There is no need for people to agitate.”

The protests in Azamgarh saw some of India’s prominent activists, including farmer leader Rakesh Tikait, anti-big dam crusader Medha Patkar and Ramon Magsaysay awardee Sandeep Pandey, extending their support.

“This is vinash [destruction] in the name of vikas [development]. It is a blatant abuse of power by the government which is trying to snatch away the land of poor farmers,” Patkar told Al Jazeera.

“Despite two-three international airports being close to Azamgarh, this project is being forced upon the people … Why this sudden need for an international airport?” she asked.

Azamgarh is about 260km (160 miles) from Uttar Pradesh’s capital Lucknow and nearly 800km (500 miles) from the national capital of New Delhi.

Yadav said activist Pandey was detained on December 24 during a march from Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi town to Azamgarh.

“When we were returning from Varanasi, my brother and I got down to drink water near the Cholapur station. Some people in civil uniform attacked us, snatched our mobiles and dragged us into a numberless white Tata Sumo car. They were shouting, ‘Where is your pistol? Who funds you?’” he said.

“On the way, the kidnappers were receiving a call by the name ‘SSP Azamgarh’. We later got to know that they were from the Special Task Force, Crime Branch. I was dropped at Kandhrapur police station late at night,” he added.

On February 2, two activists belonging to the Purvanchal Farmers Union were attacked by goons who pointed a gun at them. “They said, ‘You are farm leaders. We will kill you,’” the activists said.

So far, three rounds of talks with the administration have remained inconclusive. Also, the police have not registered any report against the attackers.

In a speech on November 22, local parliamentarian Dinesh Lal Yadav “Nirahua”, belonging to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said the people of Azamgarh “have lost their minds”.

“There are only three ways to deal with them: fracture their knees, jail them or kill them,” he allegedly said.

Arti recalled her husband Deepak listening to the speech and struggling to control his anxiety over the loss of his land. “He used to say if they take our land, where will we go? We will be forced to beg,” she said.

Devi (name changed), Deepak’s neighbour, added: “When he went to sleep, he felt immense chest pain. He couldn’t move his limbs. We rushed him to the hospital but lost him on the way.”

“Today, the family is dependent on Deepak’s father’s meagre pension of 1,000 rupees [$12]. All they have is 2.5 biswa [0.07748 acres] of land. If the government snatches it, all of them will die of starvation.”

Residents say at least 20 people from the eight villages, including seven women, have succumbed to the shock and pain of losing their land and livelihoods since October.

“We will die if they snatch our land. Then why not die fighting for it? We are farmers. Land is our first love. They are demanding that we, the poorest of the poor, sacrifice our land. How dare they?” Devi said.

As the dusk fell at Khiria Bagh, Bharti, the postgraduate student, was seen painting a placard that read: “Naari shakti aayi hai, nayi roshni laayi hai [The woman power is here, it has brought a new light].”

“Since I am at the forefront of the protest, my mother worries about my marriage,” she said. “I don’t care about marriage. I have to save my land, my rights and most importantly, my people.”

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

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