The city turned into a cemetery: Türkiye mourns the victims of the earthquake of the century

Residents admit that they are still afraid to fall asleep

February 6, 2023 can be called one of the darkest days in the history of Turkey. On this day, two powerful earthquakes occurred in the southeast of the country, killing more than 50 thousand people.

In the morning at 4:17 am, an earthquake of magnitude 7.8 occurred in Gaziantep province. People were sleeping in their beds – there was no time to react and run out of the house. Many of them died in the first minutes. After another nine hours, the news reports: another earthquake with a magnitude of 7.5 occurred in the neighboring province of Kahramanmaraş.

Dozens of cities in the southeast of the country were almost completely destroyed. More than 53 thousand died, about 1.5 million people were left homeless. Losses for Turkey are estimated at $148 billion.

Today, mourning events are being held throughout the country. Residents of Antalya took to the streets early in the morning and marched in a funeral march, some throwing flowers into the river that flows through the city. Across the country, funeral prayers were held in mosques, and Turkish flags were hung in cemeteries.

A year ago, the country’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised that more than 300 thousand residential buildings would be built in the disaster zone. Most of them are within the first year. Videos of new apartments have already appeared on social networks – these are 5-story houses, with layouts of two or three rooms, ready-made renovations and even furniture.

On February 3, the authorities handed over the keys to new apartments to more than 7 thousand people. Within another two months, it is planned to complete the construction of another 75 thousand buildings. By the end of the year, it is planned to transfer 15-20 thousand houses and apartments to their owners every month. Hundreds of thousands of people still remain in container towns.

Turkish media publish stories of people who have lost their loved ones. “My brother died, and my whole city turned into a huge cemetery. A year ago, this was the most ordinary place: everyone had dreams, hopes and plans for tomorrow. This pain and wounds cannot be healed,” admits Gulhan, a resident of Kahramanmaraş, in an interview.

A year later, citizens of the country are still wondering who is to blame for this tragedy. “I still can’t sleep normally, I’m afraid that everything will collapse from any shock,” Turkish resident Yakup writes on social networks.

After the tragedy, authorities launched a campaign to find those responsible. In total, about a thousand builders and contractors were detained, who were suspected of negligence during the work. Some cities have launched a renovation program. Istanbul especially needs this, where there is a lot of old housing. Last December, Erdogan announced plans to move residents of about 1.5 million buildings into earthquake-resistant housing within five years.

“I will always remember this day,” Antalya resident Serkan admits to MK. — These terrible images, when entire areas collapsed. I followed all the news and waited for a miracle so that at least one more person would be taken out alive. The scale of the disaster reminded me that this could happen to you personally.”