When conflict broke out in Ukraine, Aydin Sisman’s kinfolk there fled to the historical metropolis of Antakya, in a southeastern nook of Turkiye that borders Syria.
They could have escaped one catastrophe, however one other discovered them in their new residence.
They had been staying with Sisman’s Ukrainian mother-in-law when their constructing collapsed Feb 6 as a 7.8-magnitude earthquake levelled a lot of Antakya and ravaged the area in what some in Turkiye are calling the catastrophe of the century.
“We have Ukrainian company who fled the conflict, and they’re additionally mendacity inside. We have had no contact,” mentioned Sisman, whose Turkyish father-in-law was additionally trapped below the rubble of the 10-year-old condo constructing.
As rescuers dig by means of heaps of rubble, Sisman appeared to have misplaced hope.
Millions of refugees, like Sisman’s kinfolk, have discovered a haven in Turkiye, escaping from wars and native conflicts from nations as shut as Syria to as far afield as Afghanistan.
There are at the least 3.6 million Syrians who’ve fled their homeland’s conflict since 2011, arriving in trickles or en masse, generally overrunning the border, to hunt security from punishing bombardments, chemical assaults and hunger.
Over 300,000 others have come to flee their very own conflicts and hardships, in keeping with the United Nations. For them, the earthquake was simply the latest tragedy – one which many are nonetheless too shocked to understand.
“This is the best catastrophe we’ve got seen, and we’ve got seen quite a bit,” mentioned Yehia Sayed Ali, 25, a college pupil whose household moved to Antakya six years in the past to flee Syria’s conflict at its peak.
His mom, two cousins and one other relative all died in the earthquake. On Feb 11, he sat exterior his demolished two-storey constructing ready for rescuers to assist him dig out their our bodies.
“Not a single Syrian household has not misplaced a relative, a pricey one” in this earthquake, mentioned Ahmad Abu Shaar, who ran a shelter for Syrian refugees in Antakya that is now a pile of rubble.
Abu Shaar mentioned individuals are looking for family members and lots of have refused to go away Antakya though the quake has left the metropolis with no inhabitable buildings, no electrical energy, water or heating. Many are sleeping on the streets or in the shadows of damaged buildings.
“The individuals are nonetheless residing in shock. No one may have imagined this,” Abu Shaar mentioned.
Certainly not Sisman, who flew from Qatar to Turkiye together with his spouse to assist discover his in-laws and their Ukrainian kinfolk.
“Right now, my mother-in-law and father-in-law are inside. They’re below rubble… There had been no rescue groups. I went up on my own, took a glance, and walked round. I noticed our bodies and we pulled them out from below the rubble. Some with out heads,” he mentioned.
Construction staff sifting by means of the particles informed Sisman that though the prime of the constructing was stable, the storage and foundations weren’t as sturdy.
“When these collapsed, that’s when the constructing was flattened,” a shaken Sisman mentioned. He appeared to have accepted that his kinfolk weren’t popping out alive.
Overwhelmed by the trauma, Abdulqader Barakat stood desperately pleading for worldwide assist to assist rescue his youngsters trapped below concrete in Antakya.
“There are 4. We took two out and two are nonetheless (inside) for hours. We hear their voices and they’re reacting. We want (rescue) squads,” he mentioned.
At the Syrian shelter, Mohammed Aloolo sat in a circle surrounded by his youngsters who escaped the constructing that swayed and at last folded like an accordion.
He got here to Antakya in May from a refugee camp alongside the Turkish-Syrian border. He had survived artillery shelling and preventing in his hometown in Syria’s central Hama province, however he referred to as his survival in the earthquake a miracle.
Other kinfolk weren’t so fortunate. Two nieces and their households stay below the particles, he mentioned, holding again tears.
“I want this on nobody. Nothing I can say that might describe this,” Aloolo mentioned.
Scenes of despair and mourning might be discovered throughout the area that only a couple of days earlier was a peaceable refuge for these fleeing conflict and battle.
At a cemetery in the city of Elbistan, about 200 miles (320km) north of Antakya, a Syrian household wept and prayed because it buried one in all its personal. Naziha Al-Ahmad, a mom of 4, was pulled lifeless from the rubble of their new residence. Two of her daughters had been critically injured, together with one who misplaced her toes.
“My spouse was good, superb. Affectionate, variety, an excellent spouse, God bless her soul,” mentioned Ahmad Al-Ahmad. “Neighbours died, and we died with them.”
Graves are rapidly filling up.
At the Turkish and Syria border, individuals transferred physique luggage right into a truck ready to take the stays to Syria for burial in their homeland. They included the physique of Khaled Qazqouz’s five-year-old niece, Tasneem Qazqouz.
Tasneem and her father each died when the quake wracked the border city of Kirikhan.
“We took her out from below the destruction, from below the rocks. The entire constructing fell,” Qazqouz mentioned. “We labored for three days to get her out.”
Qazqouz signed his niece’s identify on the physique bag earlier than sending her off to the truck heading for Syria.
He prayed as he let her go.
“Say hello to your dad and provides him my needs. Say hello to your grandfather and your uncle and everybody,” he cried. “Between the destruction and the rubble, we’ve got nothing now. Life has change into so tough.” – AP
