MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

 Mereş- The search and rescue efforts end in Maraş’s Pazarcık district, the center of the first earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria on February 6, 2023. Almost all buildings collapsed in the district. The situation in its villages is not different. While the entire two -story houses in the villages of the district have collapsed, many of the single -story houses have been seriously damaged due to the earthquake. According to the Maraş Governorate, 41 citizens have been rescued and more than 413 citizens have lost their lives in the district.

Half of village houses have collapsed

People living in the villages of Pazarcık told NuJINHA that almost all houses have been seriously damaged due to the earthquake and that they had difficult times for three days. The citizens living in Pazarcık’s Osmandede and Ördekdede villages told us that they had taken dead bodies out of debris with their own efforts and that they ate nothing and stayed in the freezing temperature for three days with their children.

‘We took dead bodies out of the debris and buried them with our own efforts’

In an interview with NuJINHA, Fatma Yıldırım, a villager, said that neither AFAD (Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency) teams nor any other official rescue teams arrived in the villages for two or three days. Underlining that they took dead bodies out of the debris with their own efforts, she said, “There were no search or rescue efforts here. Rescue teams of AFAD and other official organizations did not come here. We called 112 to ask for help; however, they told us, ‘We are in Narlı now, we cannot leave the people here’. Therefore, my husband asked one of his friends to bring an excavator and we took the dead body of my mother-in-law out of the debris. We waited for help for three days but there was no ambulance and anyone to help us. We washed her body and buried her.”

‘Many people are still under debris’

Indicating that they have many relatives under debris in the district and other cities, Fatma Yıldırım said, “All relatives of my daughter’s husband were taken out of the debris yesterday. Dead bodies are put in rubbish bags to be buried. A week has passed since the earthquake, but many people are still under debris. We have received no help since the earthquake.”

 

‘It was a more severe earthquake than the Istanbul earthquake’

Another villager Filiz Çankaya experienced the 1999 İzmit earthquake. She thinks the earthquake that hit Pazarcık is more severe than the 1999 İzmit earthquake. “There are still people under the debris. After the major earthquake, we felt many aftershocks. We went out without even wearing our shoes. It was terrible. You also see the situation of our village. All houses in the village have been seriously damaged.  The entire two -story houses in the village have collapsed, many of the single -story houses have been seriously damaged. One couple was under debris. One of them was taken out of the debris on the first day while the other was taken out of the debris several days later. I experienced the 1999 İzmit earthquake but this earthquake was worse than it.”

‘We slept outside for two days without eating anything’

 Hatice Yıldırım told us that they slept outside for two days with their children without eating anything. “The earthquake shook us very badly. My children were crying and we went out without taking anything. I ate nothing for two days. One of our relatives got stuck in debris and we took his dead body out of the debris with our own efforts. There was a Syrian child, he lost his two sisters in the earthquake. A woman and a man stuck in debris. The woman was rescued while the man died. Dead bodies were taken out of debris after four days.”