MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

 Antakya-One year has passed since the magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 quakes that struck February 6, 2023. Although a year has passed, neither the debris has been completely removed nor the heavily damaged buildings have been demolished. According to official figures, the earthquakes killed 50,783 people; however, there are many missing people.

Antakya is one of the districts of Hatay province, the southernmost province of Turkey. The earthquake survivors in the district still suffer due to infrastructure, housing, health, education and hygiene problems. Hazar Durgun, one of the quake survivors in Antakya, told NuJINHA what she witnessed and experienced since the first day of the earthquake.

‘Nothing has passed away’

“Nothing has passed away; the worst thing is that nothing has changed,” Hazal Durgun said. “People struggle to rebuild their lives with their own means.” Hazal Durgun joined the search and rescue efforts in Antakya and Samandağ on the first day of the earthquake.

“Talking about the earthquake is still very difficult for all of us. As February 6 is approaching, we feel anxiety and despair. We feel like we will experience everything again that we have experienced for a year. Yes, many people were killed in the earthquake but we, as the survivors, do not know how we live or sleep. On the first day of the earthquake, we, as the young people in our neighborhood, walked to Samandağ to help people.

‘I found bodies of mothers hugging their children’

“We divided into four groups and started search and rescue efforts in Samandağ. People were screaming; some were looking for their children, some were screaming in blood. We heard the screams of people under the rubble of buildings. All we had was a hammer, crowbar and chisel. We had not expected such a serious destruction. I joined the search and rescue efforts in Samandağ for 12 hours. We tried to pull dead bodies out of the rubble; however, we did have nothing; no excavator or bulldozer. I found bodies of mothers hugging their children under the rubble.”

Then, Hazar Durgun returned to Antakya because she learned that her brother was trapped under the rubble. “I found the dead body of my brother after four days. Why? Because there was no excavator, no search and rescue team. We tried to reach AFAD (Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority) but we could not.

‘We felt happy when we found his dead body’

“After the earthquake, no one could cry or be afraid. I was not afraid for months, I could not cry for months because we had a lot to do. We pulled dead bodies of our relatives, friends and neighbors out of the rubble. When we pulled the dead body of my brother out of the rubble, people told us that we had pulled him out of the rubble in a short time. Can a person feel happy for finding a dead body? We felt happy when we found his dead body.

‘We waited for the prosecutor for six hours to bury the bodies’

“We placed five dead bodies in the back of a small truck and drove to the cemetery. We waited for the prosecutor for six hours to bury the bodies. We could not find burial garments. I will never forget what we experienced after the earthquake.

‘Women did their best to rebuild their lives’

“There were no officers or members of the AFAD. After search and rescue efforts, our struggle to survive started with the support of the volunteer network. We struggled to find food, clean water and a place to take shelter. Women did their best to rebuild their lives; they kept working in agriculture despite all the pain. One year has passed; however, nothing has passed away; the worst thing is that nothing has changed. Everyone is very tired. People struggle not to leave their hometown. We have been left alone here. Now, everyone has forgotten us; we have been left alone. But we will never forget what we experienced, even 5-year-old children remember those days.”