A powerful magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck the province of Elazig on January 24. Radio amateurs affiliated with the national International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) member-society TRAC assisted in the response.

Aziz Sasa, TA1E, at TRAC Headquarters reported, “The affected area was very small and the intensity limited; our involvement was also limited.” He said two TRAC branches in the affected area stepped in, assisting by providing tactical communication in the affected area and supporting the Ministry of Health by installing and getting their mountaintop repeater operational.

“Due to the relatively limited scale of the disaster, foreign assistance was not needed,” he told IARU Region 1 Emergency Communications Coordinator Greg Mossop, G0DUB. “The situation is under control.”

The internet remained operational. Aziz said no operations were taking place on HF. Mossop said 3.777 MHz is known as an emergency frequency in Turkey. The earthquake caused about 40 deaths and more than 1,600 injuries as well as considerable property damage