Will Turkish flights be cancelled, will it affect your holiday – everything Brits need to know
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British holidaymakers traveling to Turkey are advised to check with their airlines after three devastating earthquakes.
More … than 5,000 people have been killed since the first earthquake yesterday. A third magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck this morning at a depth of 2 km in southeastern Turkey, the European Mediterranean Seismological Center (EMSC) announced.
In Turkey alone, the death toll has topped 3,400 – while neighboring Syria has also reported a humanitarian crisis.
Tens of thousands of people have been left homeless and are either sleeping in their cars or looking for temporary accommodation after the destruction of thousands of buildings on both sides of the border.
The WHO has warned the death toll could rise to more than 20,000 – fearing victims trapped under the rubble could succumb to freezing nighttime temperatures of -5C (23F).
The main hotspots for British holidaymakers are on the western Mediterranean coast, hundreds of miles from the quake’s epicenter.
A man runs along a debris-strewn street in Hatay after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the country’s southeastern region
Hugh Fraser, founder of Corinthian Travel, which offers high-end private tours in Turkey, told MailOnline: “The south-east of Turkey and the region around Gaziantep, has many spectacular attractions and is renowned for its delicious regional cuisine, but has traditionally been the preserve of second or third cultural visitors to Turkey.
“The earthquake is a human tragedy, but it is unlikely to have much impact on Turkey’s main tourist centers – Istanbul, Cappadocia and the Aegean coast – which are all located hundreds of kilometers away. the west.”
Where did the earthquakes hit?
All three earthquakes occurred in Turkey’s southeastern Anatolia region, near its border with Syria.
A 7.8 earthquake struck Gaziantep and nine other Turkish provinces (Hatay, Osmaniye, Adıyaman, Diyarbakır, Sanliurfa, Kahramanmaras, Kilis, Adana, Malatya) in southeastern Turkey yesterday morning at 4:17 a.m.
It was followed hours later by a 7.5 magnitude earthquake that erupted at Kahramanmaras, near the town of Ekinozu, about 180 km (111 miles) northwest of the first fissure.
Early this morning a third magnitude 5.8 earthquake hit the area at a depth of 1.2 miles
What the UK Foreign Office said
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said: “The UK is sending immediate support to Türkiye, including a team of 76 search and rescue specialists, equipment and rescue dogs.
“In Syria, the UK-funded White Helmets mobilized their resources to respond. We are ready to provide additional support if needed.
British holidaymakers traveling to Turkey are advised to avoid the south-east region and contact their tour operator or local authorities, but the Foreign Office has not issued any travel restrictions.
The Foreign Office has long had travel advice against all but essential travel to Sirnak and Hakkari province in the disputed region.
A customer who contacted British Airways to cancel their flight to Istanbul was told to speak to their travel insurer as the airline was still operating flights as usual.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly tweeted: ‘UK sending immediate support to Türkiye including a team of 76 search and rescue specialists, equipment and rescue dogs’
A man sits on the rubble of a collapsed building in Kahramanmaras, near the epicenter of the quake
A man walks solemnly near a collapsed building after 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes hit Hatay yesterday
Civilians search for survivors under the rubble of collapsed buildings in Kahramanmaras
Stray pets are seen near collapsed buildings after three major earthquakes devastated southeastern Turkey
Where are the popular British holiday destinations in Turkey?
Britons made more than three million trips to Turkey last year and despite long-standing advice to avoid areas within 10km of the Syrian border, nearly every holiday was trouble-free.
The most popular UK holiday destinations of Çeşme, Didim, Fethiye, Marmaris, Bodrum and Antalya are located on Turkey’s western Mediterranean coast, more than 1,000 km (621 miles) from the epicenter of the earthquakes.
Britons wishing to cancel their flights are advised to contact their operators for their policies; and whether they are entitled to a refund.
Is travel likely to be affected?
No airline serving UK flights to Turkey has reported cancellations. There are currently no flights to Adana, located 220 km west of Gazientep, but domestic flights from popular Istanbul and Bodrum airports are available.
The three airports closest to the disaster site – Gazientep Airport, Hatay Airport and Ceyhan – are closed to operations, Crisis 24 reports.
“Currently, only planes carrying aid and rescue teams are allowed to land and take off from the two airports,” Turkish newspaper Daily Sabah reported. “Hatay Airport, whose runway was damaged due to the earthquake, has been closed for all flights.”
A customer who contacted British Airways to cancel their flight to Istanbul was told to speak to their insurance as the airline was still operating flights as usual.
Why did this happen?
Catastrophic earthquakes occur when two tectonic plates sliding in opposite directions collide and then suddenly slide.
They are made up of the Earth’s crust and the uppermost part of the mantle, while below lies the asthenosphere: the hot, viscous conveyor belt of rock on which tectonic plates roll.
They don’t all move in the same direction and often collide, creating enormous pressure between the two plates.
Eventually, this pressure causes one plate to shake under or over the other.
This releases a huge amount of energy, creating tremors and destroying any nearby property or infrastructure.
Strong quakes normally occur above fault lines where tectonic plates meet, but minor tremors — which always register on the Richter selloff — can occur in the middle of these plates.
Earthquakes are detected by tracking the size, or magnitude, and intensity of the shock waves they produce, called seismic waves.
The magnitude of an earthquake differs from its intensity, as the former refers to the measure of the energy released at the origin of the earthquake.
Intensity refers to the size of the seismic waves recorded by a seismograph during the event.