Earthquakes in Turkey and Syria

Motion Text

That this House notes that a powerful earthquake struck south eastern Turkey, near the Syrian border, at 04:17 local time, and has killed more than 1,700 people through the night; further notes that thousands of other civilians have been found seriously injured and trapped and that the 7.8 magnitude tremor struck near the city of Gaziantep at a depth of 17.9km; adds that hours later, a second earthquake, which had a magnitude of 7.5, hit the Elbistan district of Kahramanmaras province; underlines that so far over 1,700 people have tragically died in both Turkey and Syria and that seismologists said the first quake was one of the largest ever recorded in Turkey; further underlines the extensive damage to infrastructure, that among the buildings destroyed was Gaziantep Castle and that many victims in war-torn northern Syria were killed in refugee camps in rebel-held areas; sends condolences for each and every loss and urges the Government to make available any assistance possible.