Home ›› 10 Feb 2023 ›› Editorial
It is a heart-rending picture for anyone to see a newborn baby still tied by her umbilical cord to her mother being pulled out of the rubble and debris alive while her mother died in the devastating earthquake in a border area of Turkey and Syria. Tales of such unbelievable stories are emerging one after another from the quake site.
Earthquake is one of the natural disasters that has the potential to claim the lives of thousands of people. It is natural and happens more often in quake-prone countries. But even more heart-rending is when the country concerned fails to carry out rescue operations as quickly as possible. After the 7.8-magnitude earthquake had struck the bordering area of Turkey and Syria no immediate effort was seen anywhere near the quake site.
Family members of victims expressed their anger over the issue of conducting drives to pull out those who were still crying for help from under the debris of buildings that came crumbling down after the quake. Those who could come out of the devastation wrought by the quake are also fighting against the frigid cold and rough weather. Though the Turkish government declared a three-month emergency in 10 southern provinces and planned to open up hotels in the tourism hub of Antalya to the west to temporarily house people affected by the quake the rescue drive is still inadequate.
The death toll continues to rise. It has already topped 11, 000. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that up to 20, 000 people may have died in the quake. The number could be even higher. WHO also warned that up to 23 million people might be affected by the massive quake. The quake struck such a region of northern Syria where an astonishing number of homes, hospitals and clinics had already been destroyed by bombardment by Syrian and Russian forces making it impossible for the victims to take treatment and shelter.
People are virtually spending frigid nights on streets under the open sky. Under this situation WHO has called upon the international community to come forward to help the survivors with humanitarian aid. At this moment when humanity needs to stand by the side of the victims no matter which country they belong to everyone and every country should extend their helping hands.
We are delighted at this moment of sorrow and grief that the Prime Minister had already instructed Bangladesh Armed Forces to send a combined aid team to Turkey. A 40-member rescue team left the country last night for Turkey to join the search and rescue operation in the earthquake-hit area. Not only that a 24-member rescue team from Bangladesh Army and 12 personnel from the Fire Service and Civil Defense will also accompany the team. This is a humane and timely decision on the part of the government to send rescue teams to the earthquake-struck area.
Though Bangladesh is a small country with limited resources it very often responds to the call of humanity. This time is no exception. If this way people come forward to help each other it will create outstanding examples of relations between people of different countries.
If one country stands by the side of another in a time of need, friendship can replace hostility. More and more such examples of responding to the call of humanity will in future create a better world free from the curse of war.
