In the Turkish city of Sanliurfa, the survivors of the major earthquake that caused death, devastation and damage in the region face an invisible but powerful threat: famine.
As the morning sun illuminates the sky, the cracked streets of Sanliurfa seem empty. The mercury is only just above zero, but it feels a lot colder.
Like neighbors in the nine other provinces hit by Monday’s magnitude 7.8 earthquake and terrifying aftershocks, the residents of Sanliurfa are focused on survival.
Turkey’s most powerful earthquake in nearly 100 years hit this remote region on the border with Syria in the early hours of Monday, killing more than 5,000 people in Turkey and neighboring Syria.
Dozens of families from Sanliurfa have found shelter on the large ground floor of the Hilton hotel. Early Tuesday, most parents gathered with their children who did not sleep a wink. “We arrived here yesterday at 3 pm, the hotel gave us soup in the evening, but the night is over. We are hungry and so are the children,” says 42-year-old imam Caglar.
“Today the bakeries are closed, I don’t know how to get bread,” said the father of three. Unplanned goes to get food from his apartment, located a few blocks away, because of the danger of the building suddenly collapsing. “We live on the first three floors of the building, we’re too scared to go back,” he says, shaking his head. “Our building is not safe at all.”
Winter makes it difficult to answer
The Turkish government is struggling to accommodate all the people who were forced to take to the streets after their houses collapsed or who did not stay in their homes because it was too risky due to seismic aftershocks.
Hundreds of thousands stayed overnight in dormitories, schools, mosques and other public buildings, while others sought shelter in hotels that opened their doors for free. Helping them with food and other basic resources has been a challenge.
In addition, a winter storm has made the region’s roads, some of which were badly damaged by the quakes, almost impassable. Many local airports are closed and their runways are in need of repair.
“We eat a small bowl of soup, but it’s not enough,” said Mehmet Cilde, 56, a father of six, as he waits for the local council to finally provide food. But, he admits, “We have no information, nothing.”
nothing but blankets
The situation is even more dire for Filiz Cifci. She missed the Monday night soup delivery down the street from the Hilton hotel. Cifci and her three children, who fled their home before dawn on Monday with only three blankets and their cell phones, preferred to forego a meal rather than wait in the cold wind and rain.
“We only had tea and coffee last night, nothing else,” he said, wearing a headscarf and a purple tunic, sitting by the hotel bathroom, where families go to get drinking water. He doesn’t know if the children will have enough to eat on Tuesday and the next few days. “For now, we have nothing but our blankets,” he said, adding after a pause, “At least the water here is drinkable.”
Source: DN
