Turkey-Syria Earthquake Update: Embassy Confirms Death of Balinese Woman

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian Embassy in Ankara confirmed that an Indonesian citizen from Bali named Nia Marlinda had become a victim of the Turkish earthquake. Nia's body was found under building rubbles in Kahramanmaras, along with her Turkish husband and their one-year-old child.

Colonel Amir, the Embassy defense attaché who led the evacuation team to Kahramanmaras, confirmed the recovery of the deceased. The embassy has also delivered the sad news to Nia's family in Indonesia.

"The deceased, her husband, and their child will be buried today in Kahramanmaras," the embassy said in a written statement on Wednesday, 8 February.

An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.4 struck Turkey's southern provinces of Kahramanmaras, Gaziantep and Osmaniye on Tuesday, February 7. The epicenter was in Kahramanmaras Province, about 600 kilometers southeast of Ankara.

The disaster was followed by two aftershocks that 6.4 and 6.5 magnitudes in Gaziantep Province, 700 kilometers southeast of Turkey.

According to the latest reports, at least 5,894 people have died in Turkey and 1,932 in Syria. The number of casualties is likely to increase with the WHO estimating up to 20,000 people may have died.

The Indonesian Ambassador to Turkey, Lalu M. Iqbal, said that a team from the embassy was deployed for search, rescue and evacuation efforts. To date, 123 people have been evacuated by the Indonesian team, including two Malaysians and one Burmese citizen.

Daniel A. Fajri

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