‘We are now trying to help the
DOZENS of children shriek and giggle as they navigate an obstacle course in the midday sun, running over wooden blocks and diving through a tunnel.
The joyful scene could easily be mistaken for a normal day in Cumhuriyet Park, inadana,turkey.
But the enthusiastic staff guiding them through activities are psychosocial support workers fromturkey’s Ministry of Family and Social Services.
They are here to help the youngsters cope with the trauma of the quakes.
Sociologist Mihrac Erbova, 40, tells us: “We are trying to help the children forget what happened and give them a place to make friends. Those aged five or six and older ask a lot of questions about what’s going to happen and how we can survive the next one.we try to explain thatturkey is an earthquake zone and teach them how to survive.”
At first glance, Adana, on the western edge of the region affected by the quakes, appears to have largely escaped the total devastation seen elsewhere.
But walking the streets, we catch gaps between buildings where apartment blocks once stood, with only rubble remaining. At some sites, the recovery effort has been swift. One area that was heaving with diggers and rescue crews last week has already been levelled.
The park has become a camping ground for those whose houses are damaged and unsafe, as well as others too terrified to return home for fear of further earthquakes.
Yildiz Akkose is living in a tent with her two daughters, right. Six-year-old Gulten sits in front of a smoky fire, pushing a toy truck back and forth, and eating stew from a polystyrene tray.
Yildiz, 29, says: “I was sleeping and didn’t feel the shaking but I heard the sounds of buildings falling down. I took my two daughters outside, just wearing socks, and ran.”
The family’s apartment was declared too dangerous to stay in and they do not know where they will go next.
Butyildiz says that when she hears of the conditions in worse-hit cities such as Gaziantep and Hatay, she is grateful that they have access to toilets and a