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>> What you just saw is absolutely
insane footage of a building collapsing in Turkey in the Sanliurfa province.
That is a representative sample of the absolute devastation that is going on
across a very wide area.
Devastation not just to property, but also tragically two lives and
the initial numbers a day or more ago was already bad.
And now we believe as of when we're recording this, well,
over 2300 people have perished in Turkey and in areas of Syria as well,
many thousands more, either already missing and recovered or not yet found.
And so in these sorts of situations, those numbers are going to go up.
That is the devastating truth, it was a 7.8 quake at 4:17 AM, local time.
So right in the middle of the night and that was just the beginning because you
had absolutely devastating aftershocks which followed that up.
And in fact, why don't we bring it up?
You can see how wide of an area was actually affected by this, many,
many people living in that area across both countries.
The initial as well as the aftershocks were so serious that in Cyprus,
Lebanon, and Egypt, the tremors were felt.
And then in the afternoon, local time, a 7.5 magnitude quake struck as well.
So almost as severe while the initial response was still ongoing to the first,
as well as the aftershocks, and
then more powerful aftershocks as a result of that second quake as well.
According to Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority,
just shy of 1,500 people died in ten of Turkey's provinces and
close to 10,000 injured following the quake again, expect those to go up.
And maybe even in some ways worse in terms of how likely these areas
are to deal with a situation like this.
The affected regions host hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees who have been
displaced by the more than decade long war there.
So these are not areas where there's already a ton of resources in place and
all of that, so even more devastating.
We're gonna have a little bit of the international response to it, but
Francesca, what do you make of this?
>> Absolutely terrifying.
I mean, I grew up in California and
the largest quake I was in was in the 89 Loma Prieta up in the bay.
I think it was a 7.1 and that was terrifying.
But we're talking about the United States, we're talking about California.
We're talking about a place that has been fortified for
earthquake safety for a long time, and has even more so since then.
So this is an area that, well, there are some earthquakes,
it's definitely not accustomed to, I think the last one was 20 years ago,
not accustomed to getting regular quakes.
And of course, you're talking about people living in not even precarious situations,
just buildings that are not designed to withstand another
earthquake of this magnitude or really any magnitude.
I mean, you're talking about like aftershocks and
people who felt it miles and miles away, even a five pointer can do damage.
>> Yeah. >> So just like so much love and
goes out in empathy as Californians who live on other fault lines have.
But again, I know we're gonna talk about the international response and
I just think that it is each time we have disasters and earthquakes so far,
not necessarily linked to climate change, although maybe I'm wrong about that.
Maybe there's something in the tectonic plates and everything that actually is
being exacerbated by the global warming of the globe because, of course, what isn't.
But just to say that we need an international response that
isn't just whack a mole, that is more comprehensive.
And people in the year 2023 living around any kind of fault line deserved to
live in places that are prepared for disasters like this.
Yeah, as best I know right now and I'm not a climate scientist,
the closest connection would probably be the connection between fracking and
localized earthquakes.
So there is some connection at least, not directly climate related.
By the way, I see people,
there's obviously our audience is very empathetic bunch.
I know a lot of people are asking about,
they know that Jake has family obviously in Turkey.
I haven't heard anything yet about in either direction, but thank you for
sending out your thoughts obviously for everyone affected there as well as people.
And there's a lot of people in America who have family back in either Turkey, Syria,
and these areas, and all of that.
So absolutely, devastating.
So in terms of response, Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations,
told the General Assembly the UN is mobilizing to support
the emergency response.
I don't know yet in what form that's going to come.
But also bear in mind that they have a lot on their hands with the ongoing situation
in Ukraine that they've been helping out with for damn near a year at this point.
And so more need as well as opportunity for individual countries to step up.
A number are, a number have said that they're gonna help including
the US Secretary Blinken expressed condolences over the loss of life.
He said the US was determined to do all that we can to help those affected saying
our initial assistance operation of Turkey is already underway and
US supported humanitarian organizations in Syria
responding to the earthquakes effects across the country.
Again, I haven't heard anything specific about what we're doing,
but I'm sure there will be something.
Also, there's news that Russian rescue workers are flying to
Syria after Putin and Assad of Syria discussed that.
So I don't know how much mixing of those responses there will be, but there
are some responses that sort of focused on what's going on in Turkey, which was
the hardest hit, but then also aid that is going to Syria as well, Francesca.
I'm sorry, [LAUGH] that's rich.
That's really rich that Putin is sending rescue workers to a country
that it consistently helped to bomb and helped Assad to pillage.
But here buildings aren't falling not from warplanes, but from an earthquake.
Okay, cool, cool, cool.
I'm sorry, forgive me.
I think that aid is much needed,
but the hypocrisy should not be lost on anyone on that.
I guess, the thing is whenever natural disasters happen like this.
You keep on coming back to the idea that the world that libertarians want and
the world that the mega, Bannonites want.
Which is dismantle the administrative state, does not work in any
kind real world, it does not work when you have a natural disaster.
And you're like, gee should we descend into a walking dead future?
Or should we have some kind of government that can assist people?
Or is that gonna be a pay to play type situation?
So once again, libertarianism is only working in a Petri dish of people's minds.
[LAUGH] 100%, yes.
I've watched this last of us, should we aim for that?
I wonder, yeah.
And I know I see some speculation that chat and people are like, so
is Putin going to conscripts 500,000 people to go help out in Syria.
>> Seriously. >> No, that's for more close stuff.
But anyway, some political snark aside, the situation is deadly serious,
thousands of people have already died, far more likely will die as a result of it.
And even those who haven't, like how many people have lost their livelihoods,
have lost their homes, have lost everything that they own,
have lost a family member, have lost a friend.
This is going to affect many, many people for a very long time in this area.
And with the after shocks and all that, we're not
100% sure that were totally out of this, there could be more earthquakes to come.
Well, that will have to see and where these terrible numbers end up also.
But if you can assist, I know I don't yet
have anything solid in terms of charities that I know are 100% reputable and
there's always concerns in the aftermath of tragedies like this.
But I'm sure there are people who are organizing help where you can get involved
in addition to the state level response.
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