“Like hundreds of thousands of other people in Southeast Türkiye, I was fast asleep when the world began to shake. I really don’t know how to describe to anyone who has never felt an earthquake, let alone one of the largest ever recorded in this area.
It’s completely surreal. The floor and the walls shook and bent, and as we ran down three stories into the street, our only thought was to run far, far away from the buildings.
It was sixty seconds of the worst horror I’ve ever felt. When we calmed down a bit and realized we had survived the shaking, we also realized it was raining, we were cold, and our feet felt like jelly, like they weren’t really part of the body. our body. Everyone around us is calling, shouting, screaming.
The search for survivors continues in Samada, Syria after the February 6 earthquake.
‘Sad is speechless’
It took a while but we finally found a shelter after the urgency of the second earthquake, in a school. Along with hundreds of others, we sat, lay or stood on the basketball court, informing our families that we were safe.
Then I started to work and started to evaluate how I could help, how to tell them what was going on, how to thank the wonderful people who did it. everything you can to help me and thousands of people like me.
We spent Monday night in a Government run shelter. We felt a little shaky but it was comfortable and we got hot drinks and some food, as well as a place to sleep. I’m at the office now, updating everything, including the heartbreaking news that we’ve lost a colleague. Others were injured, lost loved ones and in some cases lost their homes. Others like my team member survived a miracle in Hatay.
It’s sad to be speechless. One minute we were asleep, and the next minute we were part of one of the greatest disasters on the planet.
I’m screaming inside, with despair, grief and fear. But I look at my colleagues, neighbors, and friends, who are more affected than I am, and they inspire me to keep going.
Huge need for shelter
Of course, Türkiye is very earthquake prone and has built a world-class response mechanism. We have worked with them for over 30 years and they are extraordinary partners. But even they will be stretched by this. This is a pair of whammy – more than a million people fleeing war in Syria have temporary protection status in the region hardest hit by the earthquake.
We are talking to the government to see how we can best help. In all situations like this, the first need is search and rescue, and I know teams from all over the world are flocking to this country to assist. Of course there will be a lot of need for shelter – thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of people will be homeless and the weather will be freezing cold. They will need somewhere to sleep for the short term. And they will need warm clothes, water, food, warmth, there will be traumas and heartbreaks, there will be huge emotional scars.
Communities will be devastated: schools and hospitals will be damaged, workplaces will be wiped out. The logistics of aid will be difficult – roads and airstrips will need to be repaired quickly. This is going to be a massive rescue, response and recovery operation, and we’re ready to respond in any way the government asks us to, as long as it’s necessary.
