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As it happens7:14 a.mSurvivors of the earthquake in Turkey cling to hope while waiting in the cold and dark
Barış Yapar tries to stay calm, take care of his parents, and most importantly, keep hope.
The university student spent Monday night in the car with his parents, waiting and praying that someone would come to dig his grandfather out of the wreckage of his apartment in Samandag, Turkey.
It was close to midnight when he spoke to CBC Radio on the phone from a dark, frozen parking lot, surrounded by other families in the same desperate situation.
“We are not receiving the help that we are supposed to. We are just, like, left out in the dark and everyone is just trying to do what they can,” he said. As it happens hosted by Nil Koksal.
“It’s been about 19 hours, and my grandfather is still in the rubble.”
More than 3,400 people were killed and thousands more injured in southeastern Turkey and northern Syria in the aftermath A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck the region on Monday. The death toll is expected to rise.
It is unclear how many people – dead or alive – remain trapped under the rubble. Officials say they have sent thousands of search and rescue workers to the hardest-hit areas.
But in Samandag – about 200 kilometers from the epicenter in Gaziantep – most people walked alone, Yapar said.
Some dig with their bare hands. Others enlist the help of friends who have access to whatever equipment they can use to dig.
“If you don’t have those kinds of tools and connections, you’re just waiting in the dark and hoping it will come,” he said.
Jolted out of bed in the middle of the night
Like most people, Yapar was sleeping when the first quake just after 4 a.m. Monday, local time, woke him and his parents.
He quickly got out of bed and down two flights of stairs to the ground floor, got into his car and drove about 500 meters to his father’s parents’ apartment to check.
“When we got there, it meant three buildings – including his building – just collapsed,” he said.
His father started screaming his parents’ names. Yapar joined in, but no one answered.
While waiting for help, he saw people pulling his loved ones from the rubble. Some of the dead, he said, were people he had known since childhood.
He watched in horror as the body of one of his childhood friends was removed. There was no ambulance in sight, so one of the brothers was lifted to the front of the digger, and carried to the morgue.
“It was absolutely soul-crushing,” Yapar said. “I don’t think I’ve been able to figure out what it means to me or what it feels like, but I think it’s going to take some time to process that.”
His mother, he said, helped him and his father, and sought help from everyone he could think of – the hospital, the government, aid groups.
But almost 20 hours later, nothing was in sight.
‘People are panicking’
About 200 kilometers north in the Turkish city of Adana, Şule Can and his family were also waiting on Tuesday night.
The political science professor was arrested with his wife Süleyman Sayar and two-year-old daughter Eva Deniz in his office at the Adana University of Science and Technology, trying to stay warm amid a power outage.
Like Yapar, he and his family were sleeping when the earthquake struck.
“Immediately, I just, like, grabbed my son and jumped out of bed,” she said.
As it happens6:44 a.mA family fled the earthquake with their 2-year-old daughter
His family gathered on the door frame, waiting for the earthquake to pass. It felt like forever, Can said, but it was actually about two minutes. Just when they thought the coast was clear, there was another aftershock.
When he finally stopped, he hurried down the six flights of stairs.
“We were like, run, run, you know, let’s go,” he said. “We got into the car and started driving.
In the drive, they took in the damage. The building itself is still standing, but many others are not.
“People are just panicking. And there’s always a terrible traffic jam. We’re barely moving … on the road,” Can said.
“When we moved, we saw more and more people just outside, not knowing what to do… It was also freezing cold.”
He didn’t know where he would go next, or when he could safely return to the city center where he lived. He is waiting to hear from the officials.
The university, he said, was in a safer place, further away from the worst of the damage. The campus is relatively new, so there are not many tall buildings, and many open spaces.
Can and his wife’s immediate family are all safe, he said, but he has heard of distant friends and relatives who did not come, or who are still missing.
“What people can do is really just solidarity, being one,” he said. “But at the same time, it’s like, it feels like you can’t do anything.”
Holding on to hope
Disappointed that Yapar knows so much, he tries to stay warm in the car with his parents, unable to do anything about his missing grandfather.
He joined a WhatsApp group with more than 300 people affected by the earthquake trying to help each other.
“To read the message, it’s all about people who are in my situation, who are also trying to get their relatives out of the buildings and ruins and still haven’t found a solution,” he said.
“I mean, you can’t get someone out of a collapsed building without the right tools. I mean, there’s no human power to do that.”
All we can do is wait – and hope.
“I have to hold on to this hope,” he said. “I need something to keep me going.”
With files from The Associated Press. Interview with Sule It can be produced by Morgan Passi. Interview with Barış Yapar produced by Kevin Robertson.
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