Nedim Albayrak, who moved in with his nephew in the central province of Eskişehir with his family after surviving the earthquake, said it is “Allah’s blessing” that they survived the earthquake, which hit their hometown Defne in the province of Hatay last Monday. Şeyda Bostan, who hails from Elbistan, the epicenter of the second earthquake in Kahramanmaraş province, said almost 90% of homes in Elbistan collapsed. Like Albayrak, Bostan took shelter in Eskişehir.
The 57-year-old Albayrak and his family of five spent a few days in their car after escaping the disaster. “I should feel glad that me and my family survived but I can’t. My two nephews are still trapped in the rubble,” he told Ihlas News Agency (IHA) on Sunday.
The Albayrak family had nothing but their car, and their fuel was running out when his nephew in Eskişehir arrived, with fuel. “He told us to come with him. I did not accept at first but I had my newborn grandson with me and the weather was cold. So, we had to leave,” he said.
Şeyda Bostan said the earthquake almost entirely devastated their home and they stayed in a tent for two days. Unable to find drinking water, they melted snow on the ground to drink.
“We had nothing to eat, but aid came later. We even had more aid than we needed and we are grateful to everyone sending them,” she said. Bostan said they had nothing left other than what they were wearing at the time of the earthquake. Bostan is staying with her family at a hotel in Eskişehir, which opened its doors for free to earthquake victims. Children are among those who took shelter in the hotel, like Meryem Eslem Bostan, an 8-year-old who penned a poem and hanged it on a board at the entrance of the hotel. The poem recounts how her “world went dark” and how her “family dragged her away from her bed.”
Safiye Yamaç, 62, is recovering from her injuries after being rescued from the rubble of her home in Adıyaman. Yamaç, undergoing treatment at a hospital in Diyarbakır province, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that she lost her husband and 26-year-old son in the earthquake that led to the collapse of their apartment on the third floor. “I heard a thunderous sound and knelt on the ground.
I put my hands on my head. It all happened in a few seconds,” she recounted the moments of disaster. “I have never seen such a thing. The ceiling fell upon me. I was trapped between two couches and then, the TV fell on me,” she said. She passed out and when she woke up, she was not feeling the right side of her body. “I shouted to my husband and my son but they did not answer,” Yamaç, who was pulled to safety some two hours after the earthquake, recounted.
Ülker Küreoğlu, who was transferred to a hospital in Diyarbakır from Kahramanmaraş, said she still did not hear from her husband and her daughter trapped under rubble. “I was running to the bedroom of my children along with my husband. But the building started collapsing. My husband and daughter were trapped just in the hallways. We were talking to each other under the rubble but breathing was not easy.
It was all dark. My leg was broken and I could not move. I did not believe I would survive but I was praying. Then, a miracle happened,” she said, referring to her rescue by her relatives.
“I was trapped in a very tight spot. They first rescued by my pregnant daughter and my grandchild. Just as they were about to remove me, another earthquake struck. The rescuers left and I was trapped again, for about two more hours. About 12 hours later, they pulled me and my other daughter out,” she recalled.
Idris Kan, a retired deputy police chief, thought the earthquake was “only temporary” at first when his wife woke him up. “But it continued shaking and then, we could not even jump off the bed,” he recounted the moments of horror to IHA on Sunday.
Kan found a piece of iron sticking out from his wardrobe and managed to dig himself and his family out to safety in the apartment building they lived in Hatay. So far, 20 bodies have been found in the rubble of their building. “We were waiting to die. Everything was covered in dust and we could not move at first. My son was in the next room.
I shouted at him and he told me he was fine. He fell off the bed and was trapped in a space between the bed and a collapsed bookshelf next to it,” he recalled. Kan remained trapped in the rubble for more than eight hours before he managed to crawl into a tight space and found an iron bar. Using the bar, he broke the concrete slab. Through the hole, his wife and son were rescued by crews.
