The Political Nature of Humanitarian Aid

With an Overview of Plate Tectonics

[Image: 2100+ earthquakes, 200+ at or above (Richter scale magnitude) M 4.0, one at M 7.8 and then another at M 7.6, 2023-02-06.]

Published: 2023-02-17

Update 2023-02-18: added a new source from Jonathan Cook.

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The Inevitability of Politics

All national actions have a political dimension to them, whether to appeal to the national electorate and/or to reinforce specific international relations. Sadly, humanitarian relief efforts are not immune from this.

Plate Boundaries and some Geophysics

The modern theory of the behaviour of the solid surface of our beautiful planet is known as Plate Tectonics. Various solid plates float on the fluid molten rock, magma, below them which we can see during volcanic erruptions. Below the magma layer are the outer (liquid) and inner (solid) cores composed of Iron and some Nickel. These inner and outer cores give us our beloved and essential magnetic field which provides excellent protection from the solar wind and especially solar flares. Those flares interacting with the magnetic field produce the Aurorae closer to the poles as the storm of charged particles is bent in the magnetic field and emits shimmering lights.

The largest part of these planetary spherical sections is the magma, which is in constant slow motion. This magmatic convection pushes the plates floating on it around, forcing some to slide beside each other, as is partially the case off the west coast of the north American continent, or directly into each other as occurs as Australia pushes north into Indonsesia or the Indian sub-continental plate pushes north into the Himalayas. Indeed, the Himalayas were created by this continental plate crush.

The case concerned for the recent earthquake sequence in Turkiye and Syria is a mixture, with the plate to the south pushing that to the northwest at an angle causing a rotation involving both "pushing into" and "sliding". There is also a pushing of the plate to the northeast!

Hundreds or thousands of earthquakes happen each day, though the majority are tiny. Seismologists with assistance from governments have established a network of devices criss-crossing the planet which detect motion, particularly focusing on plate boundaries. It is due to these instruments and the skill of these scientists that we are able to be informed of the motions of the plates and the earthquakes which signify the more dramatic movements.

Let us not forget the upper layer of Earth, the atmosphere. Its thickness is anywhere from 80 to 120 Km depending on where one wishes to draw a boundary. The "solid" plate layer is 25 to 5 Km thick, with sea floor plates being the thinnest and those over mountain ranges like the Andes or Himalayas the thickest. The largest radius of the earth, from the centre to the equator is 6 370 Km. Our "solid" crust is a piffling fraction, but it is on this boundary between solid and air where our oceans and land surfaces occur. Here resides the biosphere, the most magnificent feature of our planet. This zone is dynamic. We are blessed to still be able to access some of the oldest rocks, over 4 billion years old, and many, many layers and sequences between this ancient epoch and the present.

Geology, and by extension, Geophysics is a young science, a little over two hundred years old. I enjoy highlighting contributions made by female scientists who have been so unacknowledged by the patriarchal nature of the scientific community with some improvement in recent decades. In this case, the scientist is Inge Lehmann, a Danish seismologist and mathematician who obtained the conclusive proof for the solid inner core. She was the first woman admitted to the Geological Society of America. Her story is fascinating, well worth a little research.

Seismic and Timing Details

Turkiye took the brunt of this series of earthquakes, receiving both of the highest magnitude quakes of 7.8 and 7.6 on the Richter scale. I remind readers that this scale is logarithmic, meaning that a 5.0 quake is ten times more energetic or dangerous than a 4.0. Thus, an M 8.0 is not 4 but 10^4 (10 000) times worse than an M 4.0 earthquake.

The first of the two massive quakes, at M 7.8, struck at 04:17 in the morning local time on February 6th 2023 CE. The second massive quake, at M 7.6, was 11 hours later at 13:24 local time. More than 2100 quakes hit the region with 200+ at magnitude 4.0 or above.

The frequency and intensity of earthquake activity along this triple plate boundary is provided in the Wikipedia article [Year (Magnitude)]:

1789 (M 7.2), 1795 (M 7.0), 1872 (M 7.2), 1874 (M 7.1), 1875 (M 6.7), 1893 (M 7.1), and 2020 (M 6.8)

Note that both of the recent quakes exceed all since 1789. The most recent quake of equivalent power in Turkiye was the 1268 Cilicia earthquake. For Syria, the most recent equivalent occurred in 1822.

The quakes collapsed buildings.

[Image: a rescue worker. Source.]

Rescue efforts were well under way to recover survivors from destroyed buildings when the second major quake hit. Further troubling rescue efforts was a winter storm. Additionally, USA unilateral economic sanctions targeting Syria (the CEASAR Sanctions) hindered efforts to supply Syria with all manner of important emergency relief, particularly fuel.

On February 10th, The Guardian (UK) reported that the USA had temporarily lifted some sanctions on Syria around 3 days after the natural disaster.

The current death toll exceeds 41 000 persons.

The Political Nature of Humanitarian Aid

Turkiye suffered the most devastation. Syria is in a worse position to respond to the devastation due to the foreign planned, armed and trained terrorist insurgency fostered against it by the USA, UK, Turkiye and Saudi Arabia among others since at least 2013, a decade ago.

The concept of "worthy vs. unworthy victims", presented in an earlier article, is echoed in the relief responses to the disaster which struck both Turkiye and Syria. Aid responses compiled by the Middle Eastern Eye have been tabulated by the author.

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Whether relief was offered to Turkiye, Syria, both or was unspecified, is noted per nation. We see lesser support for Syria from NATO nations or those under the influence of the USA. This skew needs be balanced in assessment because Turkiye was hit hardest.

Please draw your own conclusions from the table. I presume that the MEE report from which the tabulation is drawn is mostly accurate. There is some lack of clarity in it, as is to be expected. I thank the MEE for their efforts to keep the aid responses up to date. Though published first on Feb 8th, it has been continuously updated to the time of publication of this article.

Any help to either nation is to be praised. One could triple the 40 000 deceased to estimate injured (120 000), and perhaps take a third of the total (35 000) to estimate the total destruction of housing across the regions. This natural disaster has happened at the height of the local winter. Response needs change rapidly, from search and rescue to food (including hot meals), blankets, fuel and basic shelter to more stable shelter in refugee housing and grief counceling. I hope local mosques and churches are given support to provide their important assistance to affected communities.

International Responses: A few observations

Saudia Arabia's aid is dominantly to Turkey, and then to the rebel held Syrian province Idlib, though 35 tonnes of aid have been provided to the Syrian government.

Tunsia, a fairly weak state in which the "Arab Spring" began, has offered what it could to both nations.

Russia's response is interesting, with aid sent to both nations, though targeting Turkiye more (worst hit), but also detaching 300 of its military presence in Syria to assist in rescue and the clearing of debris.

Qatar's response is lovely, from early phase support (medical, rescue, hot meals etc.) to then move to relocating much of the temporary housing established for its hosting of the World Cup; 10 000 temporary dwellings.

Sweden's response is a quizzical inverse. More aid to Syria because Turkiye is blocking Sweden's bid to join NATO.

Kuwait and Saudi Arabia offer an "air bridge", i.e transport services to deliver aid offered by others, on top of direct aid.

Iran's response ignores Turkiye instead focussing on Syria. Iran is the only country to aid Syria and not Turkiye. Conversely, 15 countries aid Turkiye and not Syria.

Countries like Malaysia, New Zealand and Algeria balanced their responses. Malaysia sent a rescue team to Turkiye and equal relief funding to both nations. New Zealand just provided equal aid relief funding. Algeria sent almost equal response teams to both, and equal aid to both.

The USA has offered aid, but it was the Los Angeles’ support which garnered my attention; 100 persons including firefighters and structural engineers.

Regional nations are being relatively balanced in their responses, while NATO vassals are largely ignoring Syria. Due to the asymmetry of damage between Turkiye and Syria, clear conclusions cannot be drawn. Nonetheless, the NATO aligned nations show a reluctance to support Syria's emergency services.

Perhaps the most damning is the UK's funding of the White Helmets (a recent construct designed to run a media operation to support the Syrian "civil" war) rather than the established emergency services of the Syrian government.

Sources

2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake[s], Wikipedia, still being updated as of the composition of this article

Turkey-Syria earthquake: The countries that have offered help, MEE staff, Middle East Eye, from 2023-02-08 until present (constantly updated)

US announces 180-day exemption to Syria sanctions for disaster aid, Chris Stein (Washington), The Guardian (UK), 2023-02-10

In Syria, the West’s humanitarian claims crumble to dust, Jonathan Cook, his website, 2023-02-14

Culture

Queen - Crazy Little Thing Called Love (Live Aid 1985), Queen (what can I say?), uploaded to youtubicles on 2019-05-23 by “Live Aid”. Go figure.

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