Follow the latest news on the earthquake in Turkey and Syria
The road from Gaziantep leading to Antakya, one of the areas in Turkey most devastated by the powerful earthquake that struck on Monday, is dotted with emergency camps for displaced people, and collapsed buildings.
It was not spared damage but the motorway to the destroyed city is busy as a stream of vehicles, slowly making their way to help survivors and bring supplies.
It usually takes two and a half hours to reach Antakya city. The trip now takes at least six hours.
“I left but I’m coming back now to bring some provisions”, one of the many drivers told The National, standing next to his car, which was stuck in the middle of a long queue.
Traffic is so heavy that police have been stopping cars to ease the congestion in Antakya.
“You’re going to Antakya as well? There is nothing left of the city,” he added as a warning.
On the road, the extent of the damage is jarring. In some places the ground suddenly opens like a wound; crashed cars are left untouched as if time froze.
Hatay devastated
The earthquake and its aftershocks hit Turkey’s Hatay province the hardest, particularly the provincial capital, Antakya, where more than 1,000 buildings are reported to have collapsed.
Survivors in the city, which was home to almost 400,000 people, say more than half the buildings were reduced to rubble.
Along the motorway, the sights offer painful reminders of Monday's tragedy ― a mosque with a missing minaret, a house leaning dangerously.
Emergency shelters — rows of white tents — and makeshift dwellings along the road, reveal the scale of a disaster that has affected as many as 13 million people across the country,
Some small villages close to Antakya have not been as badly hit. But, cut off from electricity, water and food because the road was inaccessible, their residents have nonetheless been affected.
They feel overlooked.
“We don’t have anything left, water, bread electricity, everything is missing and we have barely received anything, not even a tent”, said Mustafa, who lives in a small village near Antakya.
“But Antakya is where the devastation is”, he added.
“The city is done” said a young girl from the same village, making a sweeping outward movement with her arm as if she was flattening a tablecloth.
It is unclear why Antakya has been so severely devastated by the earthquake. Media have reported “pulverised” neighbourhoods in other cities, but none so badly damaged as Antakya.
The scale of destruction is clearer when viewed from space, with satellite images showing many tower blocks reduced to rubble.
Turkey’s Cumhuriyet newspaper has pointed the finger at business developer Servet Altas, who is reported to have built many of the destroyed buildings.
As of Wednesday, 21,000 emergency personnel were working in Hatay province, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during a visit to Kahramanmaras, the epicentre of the quake.
Mr Erdogan said the scenes of destruction in Antakya and Hatay were similar to those in Kahramanmaras.
“I saw the gravity of the situation [in Kahramanmaras] closely. And now the picture we are witnessing in Hatay is not much different.”
Displaced residents and relatives searching for loved ones under the rubble say rescue teams have yet to arrive, with some appealing on social media for advice on how to operate cranes needed to lift the rubble.
Bodies were laid in rows, at a hospital car park in the city, as morgues reached capacity, another grim milestone in a tragedy that shows no sign of abating.
Monday's earthquake is now confirmed as deadlier than the 9.1 magnitude earthquake that struck Japan in the spring of 2011, killing over 18,000 people.
Additional reporting by Holly Johnston in Abu Dhabi.
Infobox
Western Region Asia Cup Qualifier, Al Amerat, Oman
The two finalists advance to the next stage of qualifying, in Malaysia in August
Results
UAE beat Iran by 10 wickets
Kuwait beat Saudi Arabia by eight wickets
Oman beat Bahrain by nine wickets
Qatar beat Maldives by 106 runs
Monday fixtures
UAE v Kuwait, Iran v Saudi Arabia, Oman v Qatar, Maldives v Bahrain
Other acts on the Jazz Garden bill
Sharrie Williams
The American singer is hugely respected in blues circles due to her passionate vocals and songwriting. Born and raised in Michigan, Williams began recording and touring as a teenage gospel singer. Her career took off with the blues band The Wiseguys. Such was the acclaim of their live shows that they toured throughout Europe and in Africa. As a solo artist, Williams has also collaborated with the likes of the late Dizzy Gillespie, Van Morrison and Mavis Staples.
Lin Rountree
An accomplished smooth jazz artist who blends his chilled approach with R‘n’B. Trained at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, DC, Rountree formed his own band in 2004. He has also recorded with the likes of Kem, Dwele and Conya Doss. He comes to Dubai on the back of his new single Pass The Groove, from his forthcoming 2018 album Stronger Still, which may follow his five previous solo albums in cracking the top 10 of the US jazz charts.
Anita Williams
Dubai-based singer Anita Williams will open the night with a set of covers and swing, jazz and blues standards that made her an in-demand singer across the emirate. The Irish singer has been performing in Dubai since 2008 at venues such as MusicHall and Voda Bar. Her Jazz Garden appearance is career highlight as she will use the event to perform the original song Big Blue Eyes, the single from her debut solo album, due for release soon.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
Rating: 4.5/5
CHELSEA SQUAD
Arrizabalaga, Bettinelli, Rudiger, Christensen, Silva, Chalobah, Sarr, Azpilicueta, James, Kenedy, Alonso, Jorginho, Kante, Kovacic, Saul, Barkley, Ziyech, Pulisic, Mount, Hudson-Odoi, Werner, Havertz, Lukaku.
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
The Cairo Statement
1: Commit to countering all types of terrorism and extremism in all their manifestations
2: Denounce violence and the rhetoric of hatred
3: Adhere to the full compliance with the Riyadh accord of 2014 and the subsequent meeting and executive procedures approved in 2014 by the GCC
4: Comply with all recommendations of the Summit between the US and Muslim countries held in May 2017 in Saudi Arabia.
5: Refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of countries and of supporting rogue entities.
6: Carry out the responsibility of all the countries with the international community to counter all manifestations of extremism and terrorism that threaten international peace and security
FINAL LEADERBOARD
1. Jordan Spieth (USA) 65 69 65 69 - 12-under-par
2. Matt Kuchar (USA) 65 71 66 69 - 9-under
3. Li Haotong (CHN) 69 73 69 63 - 6-under
T4. Rory McIlroy (NIR) 71 68 69 67 - 5-under
T4. Rafael Cabrera-Bello (ESP) 67 73 67 68 - 5-under
T6. Marc Leishman (AUS) 69 76 66 65 - 4-under
T6. Matthew Southgate (ENG) 72 72 67 65 - 4-under
T6. Brooks Koepka (USA) 65 72 68 71 - 4-under
T6. Branden Grace (RSA) 70 74 62 70 - 4-under
T6. Alexander Noren (SWE) 68 72 69 67 - 4-under
THE SPECS
GMC Sierra Denali 1500
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Price: Dh232,500
CHATGPT%20ENTERPRISE%20FEATURES
%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Enterprise-grade%20security%20and%20privacy%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Unlimited%20higher-speed%20GPT-4%20access%20with%20no%20caps%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Longer%20context%20windows%20for%20processing%20longer%20inputs%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Advanced%20data%20analysis%20capabilities%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Customisation%20options%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Shareable%20chat%20templates%20that%20companies%20can%20use%20to%20collaborate%20and%20build%20common%20workflows%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Analytics%20dashboard%20for%20usage%20insights%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Free%20credits%20to%20use%20OpenAI%20APIs%20to%20extend%20OpenAI%20into%20a%20fully-custom%20solution%20for%20enterprises%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Specs
Price, base: Dhs850,000
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 591bhp @ 7,500rpm
Torque: 760Nm @ 3,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 11.3L / 100km
ARSENAL IN 1977
Feb 05 Arsenal 0-0 Sunderland
Feb 12 Manchester City 1-0 Arsenal
Feb 15 Middlesbrough 3-0 Arsenal
Feb 19 Arsenal 2-3 West Ham
Feb 26 Middlesbrough 4-1 Arsenal (FA Cup)
Mar 01 Everton 2-1 Arsenal
Mar 05 Arsenal 1-4 ipswich
March 08 Arsenal 1-2 West Brom
Mar 12 QPR 2-1 Arsenal
Mar 23 Stoke 1-1 Arsenal
Apr 02 Arsenal 3-0 Leicester