Witness: After the earthquake that struck Turkey

The once busy main road of Antakya is now a single street lined with piles of rubble several stories high. The survivors scour the area to salvage what they have left as cars smash into the rubble.

From the moment I arrived in Turkey last Sunday after massive earthquakes devastated parts of the country, it was clear that it was going to be a trip I wouldn’t forget anytime soon.

I had traveled there at the invitation of SOS Malta (Solidarity Overseas Service Malta), an NGO working to provide humanitarian assistance to communities abroad struggling in the face of war or natural disaster.

Video: Matteo Mirabelli, Editing: Carl Andrew Micallef

During the month leading up to our visit, the organization had been busy collecting donations to set up 50 tents in Reyhanli, a town in Hatay Province in the far south of the country.

Tents provided by SOS Malta for the devastated Turkish city of Reyhanlı are under construction.

The tents have now arrived and are ready for accommodation, with David Gretsch of SOS Malta flying in to oversee their construction.

Many buildings in Reyhanli, just three miles from the Syrian border, are still standing but badly damaged.

However, while going around what was left of it, the amount of damage was sometimes overwhelming.

Overcrowded tents now fill the streets, the only remaining shelter for hundreds of families forced to leave their homes due to damage or destruction. Although many homes are still standing, residents are afraid to go inside for fear of another earthquake or the building suddenly collapsing.

Their fears are justified, as a 4.4 magnitude earthquake shook our hotel briefly on the second day of our stay. After the magnitude 7.8 event on February 6, several aftershocks have rocked the country, with the tremors most recently felt in the past week.

The morning after arrival we drove to the site to see the tents starting to be set up.

Turkish and Syrian volunteers have been clearing the area of ​​rubble before the tents arrive, and have been busy installing steel trusses, stretching canvas over metal frames and securing them from the elements.

Tents are ready to house people who were left homeless by the magnitude 7.8 earthquake.

While the city already hosts many tents, the quality of the ones SOS Malta provides is a huge improvement. They are large in size and waterproof and electricity, toilets and showers will be installed soon.

Most importantly, it will only accommodate one family at a time, providing dignity and privacy to those who desperately need both. In addition to housing families, the site will soon also offer a school and a mosque.

During our visit our families reached out and thanked David, SOS Malta and the Maltese people through an interpreter assigned to us. It was an emotional moment, with those who were told they would pitch a tent expressly moved to tears at the news.

The scale of the damage was sometimes colossal

When the first tents were pitched, we decided to head to the nearby city of Antakya, an area at the epicenter that we were told had suffered significant damage.

Household items and personal belongings, scattered among piles of rubble and dust, are now the only remaining evidence that these were once homes. These buildings did not just collapse. They broke up.

Some of the remaining high-rise apartment buildings lean to one side, while cracks a few inches wide in places stretch across entire buildings. The scale of the destruction is unprecedented, with the collapsed buildings having no breathing space for anything to survive.

A couple rides a bicycle along the ruins in Antakya.

One of the many collapsed buildings in Antakya.

Some of the roads are completely destroyed, and others are sunk by up to 10 metres. The military patrol the remaining roads, keeping the peace and discouraging looting, while aid workers continue to search for survivors in need of help.

It is a shocking scene that will remain in the minds of those affected for the rest of their lives.

Despite the scale of destruction in Hatay Province, people’s daily lives continue. Children play in the streets, while adults try to rebuild their lives.

Although food is still available, having enough money to buy goods continues to be a difficulty for many, although SOS Malta plans to soon start providing food at its Reyhanlı location.

We left Turkey on Thursday, though my thoughts often return to my experiences there.

A man watches the damage to homes in Antakya.

During my visit to the country, I was struck not only by the scale of the devastation but also by the power of simple acts of kindness. These works reveal some of the best qualities we all have: our openness, generosity of spirit, and willingness to help others in need.

Seeing the work of SOS Malta made me feel proud to be a Maltese but also to take nothing for granted.

Returning to my family, friends, and home reinforced the fact that these things are not a given to everyone in the world, and that we should be grateful for what we have as we strive to help others.

We may be a small island, but as one survivor told me, we are capable of great things.

Matthew Mirabelli was talking to James Cummings.

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