A 7.8 Magnitude earthquake hit Turkey and Syria at 01:17UTC on 6th February leading to a large loss of life（A total of 16,170 people have been killed so far） and many casualties. After shocks continue in the area with another large 7.5 magnitude event happening at 10:24UTC affecting the response. 

The emergency communications group of TRAC will be involved in the response activities, primarily expected to be on VHF/UHF mode but they do also use 3.777 and 7.092MHz as needed. Radio Amateurs are requested to give way to any emergency traffic around those frequencies. 

Aziz Sasa TA1E the President of TRAC has stated that Turkey has asked for assistance from the international community and notes that if SAR Groups intend to come for assistance they should contact the Embassies of Turkiye in their countries. He also says that SAR groups should be advised to have at least one Ham Radio operator in their team and/or the facilities to program their radios.

This is a devastating event for the area but please remember that it is easy for ports and airports to be blocked with unrequested supplies so only materials formally requested by the relief agencies should be dispatched and only to named destinations or they are likely to be blocked from import.