Headline

‘How We Escaped Turkey Earthquake,’ Nigerian Family Recounts

Published

3 years ago

February 7, 2023

A Turkey-based Nigerian, Emmanuel Olaitan Johnson, has recounted how survived the earthquake that killed more than 2,700 people in Turkey on Monday.

Johnson, who spoke with BBC Pidgin, explained that he sensed danger when he noticed the crack in his building wall.

The PUNCH reports that a huge earthquake killed more than 2,700 people across a swathe of Turkey and northwest Syria on Monday, with freezing winter weather adding to the plight of the many thousands left injured or homeless and hampering efforts to find survivors, Reuters reports.

The magnitude 7.8 quake brought down whole apartment blocks in Turkish cities and piled more devastation on millions of Syrians displaced by years of war.

The worst tremor to strike Turkey this century came before sunrise in harsh weather and was followed in the early afternoon by another large quake of magnitude 7.7.

But recounting his ordeal, Jonhson said he was dressed only in pants, picked up his children and dashed into the snow without any piece of clothing.

“I was in my building and I noticed it was shaking but I wasn’t perturbed at first. But when I saw a crack in the wall, I grabbed my wife and children and ran out of the house.

“As I speak to you, I and my family are now homeless,” he told BBC Pidgin.

Johnson, a Nigerian living in Gaziantep, one of the affected cities in Turkey, explained that he had just finished watching the 9/11 terrorist attack documentary before the incident began.

According to Jonhson, before my house broke down, I ran inside twice to pick shoes for myself, wife and children and also pick up our documents.

He added that the incident began around 4:17 am in the morning.

According to him, we are dressed in singlets and boxers and my children were walking in the snow with barefoot.

“While I was using my building’s staircase, I almost lost my footing while climbing because of the earthquake’s magnitude and how the building was shaking,” he said.

For safety, he claimed that some people sheltered in sports centres and museums with strong buildings.
PUNCH

Headline

Strait Of Hormuz: US Announces Sanctions Against Iran

Published

15 minutes ago

May 28, 2026

Editor

The United States Treasury has announced sanctions against Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority.

Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, said this in a statement on Wednesday.

The statement extended the threat of sanctions to anyone paying the fees, saying they may be providing support to and receiving services from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, and therefore may be exposed to sanctions risk.

“The Iranian military’s latest attempt to extort global maritime trade is proof that Economic Fury has left the regime desperate for cash.

“Treasury has deprived the Iranian regime of revenue for their weapons programs, terrorist proxies, and nuclear ambitions,” Bessent said.

Bessent added that the US has succeeded in disrupting tens of billions of dollars’ worth of revenue from being accessible to Tehran.

Headline

US Launches New Airstrikes On Iran

Published

18 minutes ago

May 28, 2026

Editor

The United States has launched new airstrikes in southern Iran.

The strike shot down four one-way attack drones that posed a threat around the Strait of Hormuz and then a ground control site.

A US official revealed that American forces struck an Iranian ground control station in Bandar Abbas that was about to launch a fifth drone.

The official described the strikes as purely defensive, saying the US intended to maintain the ceasefire.

Report says this is the second time in three days that the US has carried out self-defense strikes against Iranian military targets in southern Iran.

Recall that on Monday the US carried out airstrikes against Iranian missile locations and boats that US Central Command said were preparing to launch mines in the Strait of Hormuz.

Headline

Woman Passes Out After Receiving 100 Strokes Of Cane

Published

4 days ago

May 24, 2026

Editor

A woman has passed out after she and her partner were each flogged 100 times in public for engaging in sex outside marriage under strict Sharia laws in Indonesia’s Aceh province.

The woman, whose identity was not disclosed, was later carried away after the punishment was carried out in Banda Aceh, located at the northern tip of Sumatra island on Thursday.

A masked official dressed in brown robes administered the caning before members of the public who gathered to witness the punishment.

Her partner was also seen wincing in pain while receiving the lashes.

The pair were among several individuals punished for violating Sharia regulations in the province.

Authorities from the Banda Aceh Sharia Court and the Prosecutor’s Office handed down punishments ranging from 25 to 100 lashes for offences including extramarital sex allegedly arranged through online applications.

Aceh remains the only province in Muslim-majority Indonesia operating under Sharia law, where unmarried couples are prohibited from having sexual relations.

Caning is commonly used in the province as punishment for offences such as gambling, alcohol consumption, same-sex relations and sex outside marriage.

Under Aceh’s Sharia regulations, child rape offenders face some of the harshest penalties, including up to 200 strokes of the cane, a prison sentence of as long as 200 months or fines equivalent to two kilograms of gold.

The punishments are usually carried out publicly as a way of shaming offenders in addition to inflicting physical pain.

Such canings are often conducted outside mosques or in open public spaces, with residents watching and taking photographs during the exercise.

Human rights organisations have continued to condemn the practice, arguing that it causes emotional trauma and violates international human rights standards.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have repeatedly criticised the punishments, saying they conflict with Indonesia’s constitution and global legal obligations.

Amnesty said in a statement: “Caning contravenes Indonesia’s constitution and is in clear violation of international human rights law and standards.

‘It constitutes a cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and can amount to torture in violation of the UN Convention against Torture and other international covenants, to which Indonesia is a State Party.’”

Despite the criticism, local authorities have defended the punishments as part of Aceh’s religious and cultural identity, insisting they serve as a deterrent against immoral behaviour.

Earlier in January, another couple in the province reportedly received 140 lashes each after being found guilty of drinking alcohol and engaging in sex outside marriage.

(Daily Mail)