Kaleidoscope 2023: Turkish Earthquake To Hamas-Israel Conflict Seizes International Attention Throughout This Year

Illustration. (Collage/VOI)

JAKARTA - In 2023 it is only a matter of days, leaving a number of events that have attracted the attention of the international community, in the midst of the dynamics of global developments in the world.

Events surrounding Geopoliticals to natural disasters occur in the world, from Asia to Europe so far this year.

Including theappropriation of the new king of the United Kingdom, here are a number of events in the world that attract the attention of the international community, summarized by VOI from various sources.

An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 rocked the southern Turkish region, to be precise in Gaziantep City on February 6, 2023, causing severe damage in Turkey and Syria.

The earthquake was recorded as the strongest earthquake after the Erzincan Earthquake in 1939 and the second-strongest in Turkey since the earthquake in northern Anatolia in 1668.

A number of aftershocks that occurred after the first earthquake, with a strength not much different, between magnitude 7.5 to magnitude 6.7 resulted in a large number of deaths and injuries. In Turkey, 50,783 people were killed and 107,204 injured. In Syria, 8,476 people were killed and 14,500 injured.

Charles Philip Arthur George, better known as Prince Charles, was crowned King of England under the name Charles III at a ceremony led by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby at Westminster Abbey, London on May 6, 2023.

Charles took the throne to replace his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, who died on September 8, 2023 at the age of 86. He has been the leader of the British Empire since February 6, 1952.

In hisappropriation, Charles III used the chair that his grandfather, King George VI had used during the 1937appropriation. To secure the reinhaling procession, Britain held the largest security operation in the past decade with more than 11 thousand security officers deployed.

Indonesia successfully completed the task of ASEAN Chairship by holding a summit in Labuan Bajo in May and the summit in September 2023 which was attended by leaders of various countries, international organizations and ASEAN partner institutions in Jakarta.

Carrying the theme of chairmanship of "ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth", a number of breakthrough agreements were successfully reached under the chairmanship of Indonesia.

President Joko Widodo appreciates the support of all members and partner countries for the Chairmanship of Indonesia, inviting all parties to increase cooperation in order to make ASEAN peaceful and prosperous, as well as a better world, before officially handing over chairmanship to Laos Prime Minister Sonexay Smendone.

Japanese authorities began releasing radioactive waste from PLTN Fukushima which was processed into the high seas on August 24, 2023, despite objections from a number of neighboring countries in the region.

The disposal was carried out in stages after a green light from the UN nuclear watchdog (IAEA) in July. The agency also established an office to monitor the entire water disposal process.

PLTN Fukushima suffered severe damage and paralysis after the earthquake and tsunami that rocked Japan in 2011. It was the biggest nuclear accident since the Chernobyl incident in 1986. In total, there are more than one million tons of Fukushima PLTN wastewater that have been processed and will be disposed of in stages for 30 years.

The attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel's southern region on October 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and 240 others was held hostage, causing the latest war and humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip region.

Israel retaliated against the attack by carrying out bombings, a total blockade until recently carrying out ground operations against the Gaza region. There was a one-week gap at the end of November, the war resumed with Israel expanding its operations into the southern region of Gaza, after previously carrying out operations in the north.

As of mid-December, the death toll on the Palestinian side, according to local health authorities, reached 18,787, while about 50,897 others were injured. There is no sign of when the crisis will end, although the United Nations has discussed this issue at the General Assembly Session, while efforts to generate a resolution at the Security Council have not been successfully agreed upon.

North Korea successfully launched its spy satellite and orbited in space on November 21, 2023, a move that sparked international condemnation that violated UN resolutions over a ban on the use of technology that could be applied to ballistic missile programs.

This is North Korea's third attempt this year, after two failures and following leader Kim's trip to Russia in September, in which President Vladimir Putin promised to help Pyongyang build the satellite. Pyongyang said the satellite, named Malligyong-1, started operating on December 1.

Through the satellite, North Korea claims their leader Kim Jong-un received a series of high-value photos such as the White House, Pentagon, US aircraft carrier, Norfolk Naval Base to the Newport Shipyard. Leader Kim himself said North Korea needed several spy satellites to better monitor the movements of its competitors, increasing the precision-guided missile attack capabilities against enemy targets.