“At night, the fear of an earthquake strikes again. I can’t sleep because of the aftershocks all night.”
On the 6th (local time), a month after the strong earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria, Yoo Yusoi, a Turkish refugee, said this while wiping away tears. Yoo Su-soi, who lives in Samandag, Hatay Province, in southern Hatay, a major earthquake-stricken area, has been living in a tent for a month. On a street where even his electricity was cut off, Mr. Soi Yoo said that he lights an oil lantern every night and says, “It is scary when it gets dark. The earthquake scare is still too great,” he said.
The British BBC reported on the same day, citing the Turkiye Disaster Authority, that about 2 million people were affected by the earthquake, and many of them were unable to find a proper place to live. According to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), more than 1.5 million people are still living in earthquake-affected areas.
zoom inOn the 14th of last month (local time), displaced people line up to receive food at the temporary refugee camp in Iskenderun, Turkey, Hatay Province. It is known that many of the survivors are living in greenhouses or train cars as these government refuges cannot accommodate all the victims. Iskenderun = AP NewsYoo So-yi, her husband, Savas, and their children live in a tent made of tangled tarps just a few steps away from the house destroyed by the earthquake. They cook food on a small camping stove and make a makeshift toilet out of wood from a destroyed building. The only furniture is a tabletop that barely stands and a bowl of moldy fruit. The BBC said that the biggest challenge facing those who survive is finding a safe place to live, but it is not always possible to find one.
Yoo So-yi lost 17 of her relatives in the earthquake. His sister, Mr. Tulay, is missing and he does not know her life or death. “I think her brother might be under the rubble of the apartment,” he said. “We can’t even begin to mourn until we find the body.” Her sister’s husband and 11-year-old niece were killed. Mr. Fluid Soi recovered the body of his nephew. The children of Mr. Yoo Soi survived, but the school is closed and they have nowhere to go and nothing to do, so they just sit around all day.
Mr Savvas told the BBC: “Before the earthquake we were free. But now he is barely alive in a tent. “I’m always afraid of not knowing what the future holds,” he said. “Can we know what will happen to us after the house collapses?”
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.