Leaving The Dead Behind: How Quake Hit Turkish Areas Are Limping Back To Normal
Almost a month has passed since the devastating Turkey-Syria earthquakes. Teams that came from different countries for relief work have now returned. Besides local journalists, TV cameras and journalists are now disappearing from these areas. But I am here after three weeks to understand the situation, how the people are living, and in what ways they are being helped. And what plans do the helpers have for the future?
I am in Antakya city. The devastating earthquake destroyed this historical city. The earthquake has reportedly affected this city the most. There are the graves of thousands of people in front of my eyes, and hundreds of moist eyes and broken hearts around them, whose families and relatives are still being buried here. I don’t know why, but with a very heavy heart, I took out the mobile phone lying in my pocket and clicked a picture.
But as soon as I clicked a photo, a military man asked me to delete it. I deleted the photo immediately. The soldier deleted this photo from my mobile’s trash bin too. One of my friends standing nearby told me that in any civilized country, taking pictures of a mass grave is not allowed. Then the eyes of all the people standing around me got watery. I too went ahead with tears in my eyes, thinking that I wish my teachers had also taught us that one should not click pictures in such situations.
Allah might have saved me because…
At the centre of the city of Antakya, the scenes here shook me to my core. A young girl is crying while sitting on the side of the road near a house. Everything is over around her. In the Haraparasi Mahallesi market of Antakya, Durmuş, about 40 years old, somehow opens the shutters of his shop to collect the remaining goods, but there is nothing left in the shop. In this shop, he used to sell computers, CCTV cameras, and items related to the petrol pump.
Durmuş lost 23 of his relatives in this devastating earthquake. He says that he lived on the third floor of a three-storey building. When he opened his eyes, he found himself on the surface of the ground. Then he, along with his doctor wife, pulled out about a hundred people from the debris, many of whom had already died.
Durmuş said that Allah might have saved him because he was involved in the earthquake relief work in Afghanistan as a volunteer with the team of Turkey’s humanitarian aid organization, ‘İHH Insani Yardım Vakfı’. Besides, he also helped the earthquake victims with money.
Here, a person named Niazi told me that there were six flats in his three-floor building. But when he woke up, all three flats on one side had fallen. But the flat on his side was saved. Somehow his family got out of the house, and now he is heartbroken that his house too has become completely ruined. According to him, this earthquake killed six people in his building.
Like Durmuş and Niazi, everyone in this city has their own painful story. But now my heart and mind were peculiar about understanding how the governments and non-governmental organizations here are helping the people affected by the earthquake.
How are people being helped?
The Turkish army and local police are deployed for security in the entire city of Antakya. Tents of Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority ‘AFAD’ are installed at various places. And the families of the victims are settled in these tents. Along with this, tents are also seen in almost every Belediye (municipality) in Istanbul, which is working to help the people. Here, the camp of the UNCHR is also visible in many places.
