The news and videos that circulated about the catastrophe of the devastating earthquake in Turkey summarize only a small part of the great catastrophe, according to what eyewitnesses told Al-Hurra: “Whoever hears is not like someone who has seen and seen with his own eyes.” “Moans, cries for help, and dead bodies everywhere.” “Cities flattened to the ground,” entire families in the streets, and others sit in front of their collapsed homes, hoping for “miracles.”
On the fourth day of the disaster, while the search and rescue teams continue their work in the ten affected provinces, the chances of finding survivors under the rubble are diminishing, at a time when the disasters that coincided with the devastating earthquake and its aftermath cut off the means of access and exit of families and the field of movement of rescue workers, especially from the cities of Antakya and Kahramanmaraş. epicenter.
According to the latest official statistics, Thursday, the number of victims rose to more than 14,000, the number of injured to 67,000, and that nearly 25,000 search and rescue personnel work in the earthquake zone, and besides them, there are 5,709 personnel from teams coming from abroad.
While the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority “AFAD” announced the end of the efforts of its teams in the city of Sanliurfa, all efforts are directed at the present time to Kahramanmaraş and Antakya, the two cities that suffered the most damage, while “no mind can imagine the conditions that befell them,” according to The words of the young Ayham, who went there two days ago to transport his surviving family.
The young man drove a small freight car, carrying relief materials such as mattresses, blankets, foodstuffs, and other supplies, from Istanbul to southern Turkey, and explains how the disaster cut off the means to get there: “Traveling to Kahramanmaraş and Antakya is on our blood. The roads are covered with snow and frost. Trucks Carrying heavy machinery from every side, and the international corridors are crowded, as if you are in the heart of the city.
In addition to the foodstuffs needed by the afflicted in the streets, the young man carried large containers containing fuel, in order to ensure the continuation of driving the car after his arrival in Marash and Antakya, and he explained that the gas stations after the capital, Ankara, do not contain fuel, and the same applies to the affected areas.
These details are part of a large number of logistical difficulties that have become complicated by the disaster that occurred on the fourth day, in addition to the weather conditions that the affected areas have been witnessing for a week. It is also expected, according to meteorological data, that the air temperature will continue to decrease in the earthquake zones and the occurrence of ice and frost.
Upon his arrival in Kahramanmaraş, where his family escaped from under the rubble, the young man witnessed the disaster with his own eyes, and explained how he could hear the moans of people trapped under the rubble, and that he did not see a city built at first, and the same applies to “Antakya, in which the houses were flattened to the ground.” While the afflicted in it, in addition to Kahramanmaraş, are waiting for the rescue teams to arrive, in order to get the stranded out.
“The cadres are working to save those who hear his moans. Antakya and Kahramanmaraş are on the ground. The country is afflicted. The whole country is in earthquake zones. Everyone is working on what they know. Many are searching for the living, hanging by the miracles. Thousands are still under the rubble,” according to the young man.
The Turkish government had announced raising the state of alert to the fourth level, and requested international assistance, while Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared, after hours, a “state of emergency” in the ten affected provinces.
The earthquake did not result in the collapse of entire buildings on the heads of their occupants, but rather left a state of complete paralysis in the first hours, after the airports of the southern states were damaged, so access there was limited to land roads, and through the sea, as the Turkish Ministry of Defense announced the entry of several ships belonging to it on the Line, in order to first aid the injured.
On the other hand, over the past three days, Turkish and Syrian volunteers have mobilized across the country to help the victims and the afflicted, in a way that may initially cover the repercussions of the catastrophe in which they are now living, especially since the disaster did not target one or two cities, but rather expanded its geographical area, to ten provinces, which is This doubled its repercussions and delayed the arrival of immediate support on the part of search and rescue workers.
“ghost towns”
“There are many accidents on the roads. Most of the gas stations do not contain fuel. Destroyed buildings, streets closed with rubble in complete darkness, and residents gathering around fires they lit to get a tambourine. Antakya and Kahramanmaraş are ghost towns in every sense of the word,” says Khaled, one of the drivers who went there to transport a shipment of relief materials.
The young man explains how the continuing aftershocks of the earthquake have become a source of great concern for the surviving families in southern Turkey, as well as the search and rescue teams, which have become “exhausted” on the fourth day of the disaster.
Khalid attempted to reach Kahramanmaraş via the Gaziantep Highway, however, due to the destruction of bridges, the highway coming from Osmaniye was closed, leading him to rely on secondary roads that are “more or less closed due to congestion”.
He said in a phone call to Al-Hurra: “No one has any idea who survived under the rubble. Whoever goes there will walk while hearing groaning and crying and seeing broken faces. No one knows what he is talking about because of the horror of what is happening.”
“Everyone is waiting for miracles. The entire country is working, but the scale of the affliction is too great and unbearable. Everyone, there is tied up and helplessness overshadows everything,” according to the young man’s expression.
Erdogan arrived in the earthquake-affected areas, on Wednesday, and pledged to take “all necessary steps” and “unify the state and the nation.” He announced from the Kahramanmaraş region that a budget had been set by the Ministry of Treasury and Finance for the affected people and that 10,000 liras (531 USD) would be delivered to each stricken family.
In a speech on Thursday, he said: “As a country, we have been in the field with all our institutions since the earthquake,” and that “the state of emergency in the ten provinces will enter into force by a vote that will be held in Parliament.”
Hisham Gunay, a Turkish political researcher whose family survived in Antakya, explains, “There is a great cut in everything and in the means of communication. The Antakya airport has cracks and cracks,” while the Ankara municipality is working to repair its damaged runways.
“The delay is unacceptable. Yes, there are exceptional circumstances and a snow storm, but I think there is a delay in delivering aid to the affected areas, especially to Antakya and Kahraman Ma’rash.”
The researcher told Al-Hurra: “72 hours after the earthquake is a mission to save people alive. We have passed this stage and we are waiting for miracles to get the stranded out alive.”
On Thursday, Turkish media quoted Mikdad Kadoglu, a faculty member in meteorological engineering and professor at the Department of Disaster Management, as saying that “the destruction of public buildings, hospitals, and municipal buildings makes the disaster unmanageable.”
Kadioglu pointed out that the weather conditions in the epicenter of the earthquakes are bad, explaining: “The rain continues in some places, while the weather becomes freezing in places where the rain stops, which increases the risks of low temperature and frost.”
“The natural conditions in which we live, the cold frost and low body temperature, challenge and complicate this period even more. It also affects work and transportation in the disaster area, which makes the rescue and search teams race against time and the cold,” according to the expert.
