People waiting under the debris in Antakya: There is hope but there is no work

Photos: Ruken Tuncel/bianet

Click to read the article in Turkish

"Neither a rescue team arrived nor has been any work carried out until now. We are waiting in front of the wreckage for days. AFAD is not doing any work, they say, 'We should hear a voice.' Work has started today, but again AFAD is not here."

"AFAD came days later. Antakya is in tatters, and they come here with three people. Neither a crane nor an operator. They say we cannot do anything, there are no vehicles. Here people pulled their people from debris digging with their hands..."

"Everything is very slow. Why are they so slow? The rescue work should be quicker. Maybe there are hundreds, thousands of people under the wreckages. What are they thinking? Will they throw away our dead together with the debris? Why are they doing this to Antakya? Why aren't more teams sent here?"

Antakya, Hatay is one of the places worst hit by the February 6 earthquakes.

There are almost no buildings in this district of Hatay that has not collapsed. Those that have not are all heavily damaged, buildings are unusable, and entering is already risky, let alone staying in them.

The district is completely destroyed.

Trucks bringing aid materials are blocking traffic. There are kilometers of vehicles at the entrance of the city. However, the search and rescue work still has not reached their destinations.

"There was no one in Antakya for days"

Deniz Umman is waiting in front of the collapsed house of his wife's family at the entrance to Antakya.

He says that they are trying to rescue and save those trapped all by their own means. He especially underlines that there was no one in the first two days. He says that AFAD arrived on the second day, but could not work since they came without any teams.

"Neither a rescue team arrived, nor any work carried out until now. We are waiting in front of the wreckage for days. AFAD is not carrying out any work, they say 'We should hear a voice.' Work has started today but again AFAD is not present. İstanbul Municipality (İBB) came on Tuesday. It is almost that the work has started only today (Thursday). Those coming from İBB are running from one wreckage to another, they go to where a voice comes from. We are waiting but we do not know if they will come out alive."

"There are hundreds under wreckage but no work"

Duygu Umdu is another one waiting for her beloved next to the same wreckage. "What should we say, we do not even know what we need," she says.

"Four days have passed. Why is it that we still cannot use our cell phones? No rescue teams arrive. AFAD is not present in many places. Everything is very slow. Why are they so slow? The rescue work should be quicker. Maybe there are hundreds, thousands of people under the wreckages. What are they thinking? Will they throw away our dead together with the debris? Why are they doing this to Antakya? Why aren't more teams sent here?"

"AFAD did not work since there was no voice"

Sevgi Y. who is a nurse working in Ankara for one year is waiting for her mother, father, and brother in front of the wreckage. She came to Antakya as soon as she learned about the earthquake but they were not able to do anything up until now.

"We came direct away, but there was no one here. AFAD teams came on Tuesday at midnight but they said they would work here if they hear a voice. There was no voice in our apartment so they went away.

"We started digging ourselves. We did not have any equipment, and it was dark but people got out with their own efforts, we pulled them out with our own efforts. There are still those who are rescued alive, I hope my family members will also come out alive. But we are tired of waiting here, helplessly, they have to send more teams here."

"If only I was also under the debris"

Another woman is waiting for her daughter, son-in-law, and two-year-old grandchild. Her own house is a single floor and it did not collapse but was heavily damaged.

"They would rescue them if they had started working from the first day on. We tried but we could not do anything. AFAD came on the second day but only looked and went away. Diggers arrived on the third day. My husband is working in order to rescue our other children also under the wreckage. I have a grandchild who is two years old. If only I was also under the wreckage so that I would not see this." (RT/PE)