Turkey earthquake: How was the experience at that moment of the earthquake? Listen to the tragic stories of people who survived in Iraq-Syria.
There is no trace of relatives, a Turkish woman broke down in tears
Ankara: It was 13:30 in the morning. Erdem slept soundly at his home in Gaziantep, southern Turkey. Suddenly, he woke up with a violent jolt. Erdem is one of the lucky ones who survived the disaster in Turkey. "I have never felt like this in my 40 years of life," he told the BBC. At least three times the ground shook violently. I felt like I was swinging like a baby in a swing.” He also said that the local residents left their houses and took shelter in their cars to escape from the collapsed houses.
Erdem is not alone, the experience of everyone who survived the earthquake in Turkey is almost the same. Nilofar Aslan is a resident of Adana, 130 miles west of Gaziantep. As their five-story apartment swayed violently, he assumed his family was certain to die. However, all survived in the end. Nilofar said, “I have never seen anything like this in my life. Everything swayed for about a minute. I told my family, there is an earthquake. Let's die together at least in one place. Besides, I had no other thoughts at that time.” After the tremors stopped, Nilofar came out wearing only a chatti and house clothes. And he did not dare to return to his house. All around are the ruins of large buildings.
After the initial shock of the earthquake wears off, everyone jumps into rescue operations. A resident of the city of Diyarbakir, 300 miles to the east, told Reuters news agency, "Everybody was screaming for help all around. In that situation I started moving the stones by hand. My friends and I pulled out several injured people from under the rubble. But still the screaming did not stop. Then, the rescuers swung into action.” Many survived, but could not save their families. That afshosh is eating them up. "Seven members of my family are buried under the rubble," Diyarbakir resident Muhitin Oraqi told AFP news agency. My sister and her three children are there. Her husband, father-in-law and mother-in-law are also buried.”
The same picture was seen in Syria. The buildings there were already weakened by the long bombardment. Almost all of them were destroyed in the earthquake. "Aftershocks and freezing weather have made the situation worse," said Ozgul Konak, 25, a resident of Malatya. It is very cold and snowing here. Everyone is on the road. People don't know what to do."
After the earthquake, Ismail Al Abdullah, a member of the Syrian human rights group, 'White Helmets' jumped into the rescue operation in Sarmada, a Syrian city bordering Turkey. He said, "In this earthquake, many buildings in various cities and villages in northwestern Syria have collapsed. We need help. We need help from the international community. Northwestern Syria is now in complete disarray. Everyone needs help to save the Syrian people.”
