“God, what have we done to give us these trials?”
Muhammad Hai Cador, who barely escaped with his family on the 6th (local time) from Idlib Province in northwestern Syria, which was directly hit by the earthquake that struck southeastern Turkey and northern Syria, recalled:
Getty ImagesMr. Cador told the New York Times (NYT) that day, “The whole area of a building the size of a football field has been wiped out. All around was the sound of people crying,” he said. A doctor in Idlib said, “More than 50 bodies have piled up in the hospital hallway. Most of them were children,” he told the NYT, “another body continued to come in.”
Strong earthquakes of magnitude 7.8 and 7.5 and a total of 130 aftershocks that lasted until the 7th destroyed buildings in an instant. In the footage released by Sky News in the UK, it was captured that a seven-story building in Haliliye, Shahrurfage, about 140 km east of Gaziantep in southern Turkiye, the epicenter, collapsed in 10 seconds with a roar. In eastern Malatya, the scene of the building collapsing was broadcast over the reporters of Turkiye Broadcasting, who were broadcasting live on the spot. In some cases, aftershocks caused part of the building to collapse and hit the rescuers, causing mayhem.
The people who survived the blackout caused by the earthquake and the cold weather that dropped to minus 5 degrees had to spend the night in the dark streets due to successive aftershocks. Most of them could not pack a single thick layer of clothing or even had no shoes. On the night of the 6th, in many places in the affected area of Turkiye, adults and children gathered around bonfires made from the timbers of collapsed buildings to warm up.
In many cases, rescuers did not arrive or were unable to start the search operation due to lack of equipment. A man living in Marash, southeastern Kahraman, said on the 7th, “His mother has been trapped (in the rubble) for 24 hours since yesterday. They said rescuers were coming in the morning, but there was no news. The (rescue) system is poor,” said the Guardian, a British daily.
Getty ImagesAccording to Turkish residents, the streets of Hatay in southern Turkey were filled with cries and calls for help calling for family and friends who were buried under rubble. There were power outages as well as frequent phone and Internet connections. City roads are said to be paralyzed with vehicles trying to exit the city and vehicles entering to rescue acquaintances and relatives. Pastor Anpaul Antioch Church, who lives in Hatay, said, “The second and third floors of the (three-story) church building collapsed.”
Many cultural assets were also damaged. According to AFP, the walls and watchtowers of the 2,200-year-old Gaziantep Castle, a landmark of Gaziantep, have been damaged beyond recognition. The citadel of Aleppo, Syria, a UNESCO World Heritage site that was intact for nearly 800 years, was also partially damaged.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared a week of national mourning starting on the 6th. He also issued an order to close schools nationwide until the 13th to focus on damage recovery.
Cairo =
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.