Misery in destruction
NO PLACE TO GO: ‘WHERE WILL WE BE IN A MONTH ... NOBODY KNOWS’
Many who survived the disaster fear another big jolt.
Eyes red, features drawn, Fidan Turan looks lost as she stands in the middle of the street, wondering whether she should leave her devastated Turkish city or stay through its postquake recovery.
The building she lives in seems to have held up better than those of her neighbours in Antakya, a historic centre near the Syrian border, framed by mountains and dotted with ancient mosques.
Her metal door stood strong and the windows are still in place. Even the air conditioner is hanging in there, only showing a few cracks from last Monday’s 7.8-magnitude tremor.
But many who survived the disaster fear another big jolt.
More than 1 600 aftershocks of varying force have since rattled the region, adding to a death toll that has passed 33 000 in Türkiye and surpassed 3 000 in Syria.
Standing on the street and gazing at her fourth floor flat, Turan doesn’t know which way to turn.
“When I see the destroyed buildings, the bodies, it’s not that I can’t see where I will be in two or three years – I can’t imagine where I’ll be tomorrow,” said the youthful looking pensioner, a tear glistening in her eye.
“We’ve lost 60 of our extended family members,” she said. “Sixty! What can I say? It’s God will.”
Her family home in a nearby village is not an option. Survivors told her it has been destroyed.
“Where can we go?” she asked, her voice broken.
Her son Inayet stared glumly through his blue glasses and tried to see a way out.
“It is still possible to rebuild here,” said the 35-year-old psychologist. “The state has the power to do it.”
But for now, “hundreds of people are on the street, sleeping on benches, in parks. We must find a solution”, he said, showing hints of anger and despair.
Crossing a street to the south of the Turan family’s apartment, a water purifier in his arm, Mustafa Kaya is escorting his wife, who is tugging a suitcase with one hand and their daughter with the other.
Living out of a tent since Monday, he has just fetched some belongings stored at the entrance to their ruined house. He would not dare step inside for fear of another big shake.
“We don’t know where we’ll be in a month or a year,” he said with an air of resignation.
“We will do what the government says, what God allows.”
His immediate plan is to go check on his brother in Istanbul to see if he might be able to put them up for a bit.