We are still searching for the missing loved ones – DW – 02/25/2023

Ahmed Silanguddin believes he will find his son-in-law either in the hospital’s intensive care unit or among the dead bodies. Unfortunately, it turned out to be the last.

Eleven days after a double earthquake hit Turkey on February 6, Ceylanguden received a phone call from the Public Prosecutor’s Office. They identified Yilmaz’s body by his fingerprints.

His body was found buried under the rubble of the building where he lived in Hatay province, southeastern Turkey.

Silangudin kept vigil in front of the destroyed apartment building until the rubble was completely cleared. But he said many of the bodies recovered during the recovery process could not be identified. He almost gave up hope of discovering Yilmaz’s fate.

“They sent us pictures of his body and a lighter watch,” he told DW. “The stuff belonged to my brother-in-law. We couldn’t look at the pictures of his dead body.”

The earthquake victim is currently buried in a mass grave in Narlica district of Hatay along with thousands of unknown people. “In the coming days, we will transfer him to our family cemetery,” Ahmed Silangudin said, crying over the coming days.

Gülkan Yilmaz with her son (who survived because he wasn’t home when the earthquake struck) was photographed before the disaster. Photo: Burcu Karakas/DW

Yilmaz Gülkan’s wife was rescued alive from the collapsed building where nearly 60 people were killed. At the hospital, doctors later amputated both her arms and one of her legs because they developed gangrene.

The earthquake hit the buildings of Hatay hard

According to figures released Thursday by the Turkish Interior Ministry, the death toll currently stands at 43,556, with tens of thousands homeless or displaced. But a report by the Turkish Business and Business Confederation estimated that the death toll in the earthquakes was likely to exceed 72,000.

At the moment, many are still missing, and the exact number is uncertain. Turkish authorities told DW that they were unable to provide an estimate of the number of unaccounted for earthquake victims.

Turkey’s Hatay province is eerily quiet. The Hatay Public Prosecutor’s Office told DW that as of February 20, just over 21,000 people in the province had lost their lives, with nearly 2,000 of them unidentified.

More buildings collapsed in Hatay than in any of the 11 quake-hit provinces, according to an assessment by Turkey’s Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change.

Most of the destroyed buildings and the resulting rubble in Hatay were combed out by officials. Now people here, as elsewhere in Turkey, are searching for their missing loved ones in hospitals or mass graves.

After the victims’ fingerprints are registered and DNA samples are taken, the unidentified bodies are buried within 24 hours, according to the Emergency and Disaster Management Authority (AFAD).

Bury the dead until their loved ones find them

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The sister is still looking for her 24-year-old brother

Tugba Akyuz is one of those who are still searching. She hopes to find her 24-year-old brother, Mustafa Batuhan Gulik, who was living alone in an apartment building in the Iskenderun district of Hatay.

Akyuz was able to reach the scene only 20 minutes after the earthquake.

She told DW: “We saw the collapsed building. My brother lived on the fifth floor. His car was there. A phone signal was received from the apartment. The security cameras did not show any footage after the earthquake.”

Akyuz said her family assumed Gulik was trapped under the rubble. But when the rubble was completely cleared eight days after the earthquake, he was not found dead or alive.

Akyuz said her father gave authorities DNA samples for identification. Meanwhile, the family continues to post on social media and contact authorities and hospitals every day.

The family of Mustafa Batuhan Gulik (pictured) hopes to know his fate

Akyuz recounted, “A pediatrician from Iskenderun State Hospital called me.” “She said she saw someone who looked like my brother who asked for water, but she wasn’t 100% sure if it was him or not.”

She and her family have not lost hope yet.

Edit: Kate Hirsen

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