Earthquake victims in Turkey remember the terrifying ordeal

The devastating earthquake in Turkey destroyed more than just buildings, it shattered people’s lives

(Nordagı, Turkey) Three weeks after the devastating earthquake and powerful aftershocks hit Turkey, the Başturk family is still grieving. Their son Osman Anis died in the massive earthquake.

“On the night of the earthquake, I was awake to perform the dawn prayer, and all my family members were asleep. When I felt the earth shaking, I woke up all my family members, my wife. Mehmet Basturk, a resident of one of the buildings destroyed in the earthquake, told The Media Line: The building suddenly collapsed.

He had just woken up for morning prayers when the earthquake struck.

Basturk, a retired truck driver, husband and father of three young men, had just bought the house he thought he would spend his golden years with his wife, Asiye.

But just three days after he moved his family into their new first-floor apartment in Nordağı near Gaziantep, the seven-story building collapsed on top of them, shattering their lives.

“At first, I survived. When I got out I saw all the buildings collapsed. I couldn’t see my wife. It took hours to find her. I was able to visit relatives to pull my wife out from under the rubble,” Basturk says.

His wife was trapped under the rubble, but all she could think about was her children.

“The building suddenly collapsed on top of us. I was stuck inside. I called my children, and my youngest son responded. I asked him, ‘Where is your brother?

Basturk recalls calling two of his children into the rubble, but only heard from his 15-year-old son, Amir Khan.

I asked him where is your brother? He said, ‘He’s by my side, his hand on my shoulder now, he’s protecting me but there’s no sound coming out of him.’

Basturk waited for days before his son’s body was pulled from the rubble.

“On the third day, heavy machinery started arriving, and I showed them where he was. It took several times, and finally we found the body of my eldest son,” Basturk says.

He and his wife are trying to come to terms with their loss. His family endured days of agony before they lived, but without one of their children.

Osman Anis was born on the day of the Marmara earthquake 24 years ago, which left 17,000 dead, and died on the day of the Kahramanmaraş earthquake, whose death toll exceeded 50,000.

He was buried near his family home.

“My son will never return; it is really a great pain. A great pain for all of us. He was born on the day of the Marmara earthquake and died in that earthquake. It was the same time. He was born during the morning prayers and died at the same time.”

Chairs have been erected in the forecourt of the collapsed building outside the tent where the family has lived since the earthquake to welcome well-wishers at Ines’ wedding scheduled for this summer, but now the grieving mother says they will be used to receive mourners.

“I prepared everything for his future, but he will never see him. I hope none of the parents feel the way I feel now,” she said.

A strong 7.8-magnitude earthquake on February 6, and a series of strong tremors and aftershocks, hit southeastern Turkey and northwest Syria. The death toll has passed 50,000 and is still rising.

Tens of thousands have been injured and hundreds of thousands displaced across Turkey alone.

The powerful earthquake reduced entire neighborhoods to dust.

Almost nothing was left of what was once an ordinary street in Nordgay before the earthquake struck last month.

Murat, the owner of what used to be a furniture business in his hometown of Nordgay, is back in his shop to salvage what he can from a strong and thriving furniture store.

“We are fortunately still alive. We have lost family and friends. Here I am getting some items from my shop,” he said.

“I lost everything, but I will start from scratch. I had a production center of 500 square meters. My first step is to rebuild it; after that, I will open two new branches again,” Murad told The Media Line.

He points to a frame hanging on the wall of a shop with the words “Malik al-Malik” written on it. It means that all the possessions of life belong to God.

Murad continues trying to save what he can, insisting that it is not the end, but the beginning.

“I want to live here. Everyone knows me and loves me. I will rise again with their support,” he said.

He now lives in a tent with his wife, three-year-old son Adam, and seven-month-old daughter Silmariah.

“We feel safe here. I live outside my grandfather’s house. It’s hard to live in a tent. It gets very cold at night, and we can’t sleep. I keep checking the stove, adding wood to it, and checking on my children,” Murad says.

Many streets and neighborhoods have been turned into cemeteries, and many families tell the same story and have the same fears across the vast earthquake-ravaged region.

The shop owner, Mustafa, lived on the third floor of a five-story building with his wife and two children.

“I lived on the third floor. We had become the first floor,” he said.

He told The Media Line that when he felt the building swaying, he feared the worst, and began screaming frantically to wake his wife and two children before the building collapsed.

I hurried to my children’s bedroom and pulled them out. I could not open the door outside because of the damage it had done, so I went to the porch, looked outside and my neighbors were all outside, and threw my children at my neighbors; At least they might survive. After that, I jumped off the balcony with my wife. My wife broke her arm, Mustafa says.

Fawzi, Mustafa’s neighbor, told The Media Line that the young Syrian who lived across from him was not feeling well.

“My cousin and I went outside to look around. We saw that our retaining wall had collapsed. I realized that our Syrian neighbour, 18 years old, was under the wall. He had broken his leg; it was very cold and rainy that day, and the area was covered in snow.” It was very cold. We took him and took him to the hospital. We learned later that he had died of frostbite.”

These events left many with agony and fear.

“Psychologically, we are affected. Shocked. We still fear more earthquakes,” says Fawzi.

In the ancient city of Antakya, which is one of the worst affected areas, people are still searching for their loved ones. A woman is searching for her fiancé, whose body is still missing. She was posting his picture and information; Still hoping to find it.

Desolation is everywhere as people are still trying to make sense of what has befallen them.

In a camp for people displaced by the earthquake in Nordgay, one of the hardest-hit areas, people wait in long lines for food.

Children find solace in playing soccer, laughing as they chase the ball, a reminder of how peaceful their lives were just a few weeks ago. Even for a short moment, there is hope, a glimpse of what is yet to come.

Under the giant excavator, heavy construction equipment makes repetitive sounds throughout the day and night as rubble is removed to allow rebuilding to begin.

Zeynep Okkar, originally from Gaziantep, moved to nearby Nordgay to be close to her family.

She lost 12 family members in the earthquake, including two of her sister’s four children, as well as her uncles and their families.

Her sister also lost her husband.

“We spend most of our time in the cemetery. We feel like we are in a nightmare, but when I wake up I am still alive and nothing has changed. It is a difficult time for us,” surrounded by her children and the children of other family members, Ojar told The Media Line.

Uçar says they plan to stay in Nurdgai for a few more weeks before returning home.

I’m very scared. “When anything moves, me and the kids get scared,” Osar says.

The rebuilding process has already begun, but the devastating earthquake in Turkey destroyed more than just buildings, it also broke people’s lives with it. Many victims say nothing will replace the emptiness left by the loss of their loved ones.

Video production: Dario Sanchez

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