On Wednesday morning, rescue workers in the Turkish city of Kahramanmaraş heard cries from the ruins. news is on the scene and sees how dozens of rescue workers work to remove the masses of rock in order to get people out before it is too late. – Make noise if you hear something, they shout. In between work, they stop to listen. During the time news was there, they heard sounds in four places in the masses. Rescue workers listen for people in the building masses in Kahramanmaraş in Turkey. Photo: Åse Marit Befring / news Naziha Geyik (67) stands next to the rescue workers. She tells news that she has five grandchildren who are buried under what was once a block of flats. – I am here to wait for my beautiful grandchildren. She says that two of the grandchildren are teachers, one is a student and the two youngest are of school age. Geyik’s home was also destroyed in the quake, but she escaped with her life. – The place I lived also collapsed. Since then we have slept in tents or in the car, says the 67-year-old. Lost aunt and uncle Diyarbakir, north-east of Gaziantep in Turkey, is among the cities that were hit by the earthquake on the night of Monday. Ekrem Kaya (44) was in his apartment with his wife and children aged five, seven and 14. Everyone was asleep when the earthquake was triggered. At first they thought it was a storm. – We woke up to a commotion, he says to news. Ekrem Kaya together with his three children. Photo: Privat What lasted for almost a minute felt like an eternity, he says. He later learned that both his uncle and aunt died when their block of flats collapsed. They lived on the fourth floor. – It is difficult to describe what I feel now, he says. The son and the family of the couple in their 60s who died lived on the seventh floor and could almost go out on the ground floor after the earthquake. All the floors below had been crushed beneath them. They still haven’t managed to shake off the shock, says Kaya. Currently, Kaya and her family spend the night in a village outside the city. It is not safe to sleep in the city yet, he says. – There are hardly any rescue workers here in Diyarbakir, says Kaya, who is dissatisfied with the help they have received. The mind grows The devastation is immense in Kahramanmaraş. Eight apartment blocks of over ten floors have completely collapsed. It is estimated that around 150 people lived in each of the eight blocks. As they crashed together in the middle of the night, very few made it out alive, – Where is the state? Where are they? I can’t get my brother out of the ruins. I can’t get hold of my nephew. Look around here, There is no one from the authorities here, shouts Ali Sagiroglu. The picture was taken by news in Maras on Tuesday evening. Photo: Åse Marit Befring / news Sagiroglu’s brother and father have disappeared in the rock masses, writes the AFP news agency. Last night it was minus six degrees. People have found shelter inside a shopping center and are sleeping on blankets and chairs. Heard cries for help In many places, it is local residents who are responsible for the rescue work, writes AFP. – On Monday we could hear many people shouting for help from inside the ruins, but today it is quiet. They must have died from the cold, says a man in his 40s. Cuma Yildiz, a man in his 60s, accuses the authorities of not caring. – Where are they now? They don’t care, they have no compassion, he says. Large machines dig through the masses in Maras. Photo: Åse Marit Befring / news In the big city of Gaziantep, people are just as angry. Although every minute counts to save lives, it took over twelve hours for rescue teams to arrive. Residents told AFP that when rescuers finally arrived, they worked for just a few hours before stopping for the night. – People rioted on Tuesday morning. The police had to intervene, says 61-year-old Celal Deniz. His brother and nephew lie under the rock masses. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan himself has said that the rescue team had some problems getting to the affected areas in the first hours after the earthquake. Now this should be under control, according to Erdogan. “Earthquake tax” Turkey is located in an area with many earthquakes. After the great earthquake in Izmit in 1999, in which at least 17,000 people died, an additional tax was introduced. The tax was called an “earthquake tax” and was supposed to go to prevent disasters and rescue teams. Aerial photo from Kahramanmaraş shows enormous destruction. Photo: STRINGER / Reuters In the years after 1999, the tax has brought in around NOK 50 billion to the treasury, but it is unclear how the money has been used. – Where has all the tax that has been collected since 1999 gone, asks Celal Deniz. At the same time, rescue workers from several countries have started arriving in the affected areas. In Hatay, news met rescue workers from both Italy and the Netherlands. Here, several children were rescued from the ruins with the help of excavators, writes AFP. – The chance of getting more people out alive here is very high, rescue worker Alperen Cetinkaya told the news agency. 82 people from China landed on Wednesday morning at the airport in Adana, writes Reuters. They have 20 tonnes of medical and other equipment with them, as well as four rescue dogs. China is only one of over 20 countries that have sent rescue teams to Turkey.
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Naziha’s (67) grandchildren are trapped under the ruins – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
