Roma in the Czech Republic will express their condolences to the victims of the earthquake in Syria and Turkey this Sunday

“Romani people, let’s gather to express our condolences to the victims of the earthquake in Syria and Turkey. Come together in your hometown. Sunday, 12 February at 15:00, the best place would be at a cemetery near the central cross, let’s light candles and pray,” Samko posted to Facebook.

In Prague, the commemorative ceremony will take place at the Olšany Cemetery. “We’ll meet at 14:50 in front of the main entrance, walk to the central cross and light candles,” Samko said.

The 7.8 earthquake in the early morning hours of Monday and the somewhat weaker aftershocks have caused enormous damage at the Syria-Turkey border. Thousands of buildings collapsed as people slept.

The Turkish authorities are announcing the largest number of victims so far, because the catastrophe affected several big cities. The rescue effort in the ruins is proceeding slowly, and given the very cold weather, there are concerns that the number of victims will grow significantly.

The rescue operation is being made even more difficult by the aftershocks, 650 of which have been recorded by seismologists since Monday, according to the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) of the Turkish Interior Ministry. “The earthquake hit an area of 110,000 square kilometers… This is the third-largest earthquake after the Anatolian earthquake of 1668 and the Erzincan earthquake of 1939,” Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said today in Parliament, according to the Anadolu press agency.

Oktay said almost 64,000 people have been injured, and AFAD said more than 113,000 rescue workers are intervening in the affected regions in Turkey, 6,000 of whom are experts from abroad, including from the Czech Republic. More than 28,000 people so far have been evacuated from the catastrophe there.

AFAD reported yesterday evening that Turkish authorities have found the corpses of 17,134 people so far. In the north of Syria, according to Damascus and the opposition White Helmets organization working in the regions controlled by rebels, 3,377 corpses have been found.

Syrian state media have reported 1,347 victims in areas controlled by the Government, while the White Helmets reported another 2,030 dead on Twitter and almost 3,000 injured in the rebel regions. Aid delivery is complicated by the complex domestic political and security situation in Syria, making the access to the regions controlled by rebel groups quite complicated.