OSMANIYE, TURKEY In the town of Osmaniye in southern Turkey, the Sungur family’s large and comfortable apartment has been turned into a tent.
Now the family of five shares a tent with two other families, says the family’s mother Selma Sungur.
Normal life ended Monday morning after four o’clock when the earthquake struck.
– We live on the fourth floor. I don’t know how we got out of it, Sungur says about the night of the earthquake.
– This is a drastic change. But we don’t think about the house, the children’s school or work. All we care about is the survival of our loved ones. It is enough to hear the voice of our loved ones, says Selma Sungur.
On the edge of Tampere-sized Osmaniye, a tent camp has been set up in the parking lot of the amusement park.
Amusement park equipment and strange-looking castle-like buildings can be seen in the background of the tents.
Camp residents are queuing for food and the Turkish Red Crescent is setting up a clinic in the parking lot. There seems to be plenty of helpers there.
Many spent the night outside
A couple of thousand people live in tents, and more similar temporary settlements resembling tent camps or construction site barracks are being erected in different parts of the earthquake area.
Until now, many people have been coloring in the sky since Monday morning. The temperature drops to freezing in many places.
Aid organizations warn of a humanitarian disaster if people are not protected.
Those left homeless are also supposed to be accommodated, for example, in hotels in tourist destinations further west from the earthquake area.
“We don’t think about the future”
According to Selma Sungur, it is not yet time to think about the future.
– Thousands of people went to sleep on Sunday night with many kinds of dreams, and never woke up. We don’t think much about the future, says Sungur.
With Selma Sungur’s spouse Ismail is a software company, but now there is no way to go to the company because the building is damaged
As such, Ismail Sungur is ready to burn down the family’s home as long as the building is deemed safe.
Unless we can return home, it is of course uncertain what to do. Shall we stay here, or shall we go elsewhere, Ismail Sungur ponders.
The budgies were saved
Shortly after the earthquake, Ismail went to the family’s apartment to pick up the children’s belongings. But the visit was carefully planned and very quick.
The family’s budgies, who sit in their cage in the corner of the tent, also came along.
The home is mostly intact, but no one knows what has happened to the structures. The aftershocks have collapsed several houses.
According to Ismail Sungur, the Osmaniye region survived with relatively little in the end, although there are dead and injured here too
– There is a feeling that we were lucky after all. There are other areas where the situation is much worse. But we don’t know how life will continue from here.
Fear is present in the tent camp
Selma Sungur has not yet thought at what point she is ready to go inside the building. Even in the tent camp, fear is present, and here and there you can see crying and shocked people.
– When we go to sleep, we think about whether there will be another earthquake. When there is an aftershock, we are even afraid that the tent will collapse on us, says Selma Sungur.
He states that over time, life needs a new approach, as long as some kind of order is restored.
– Then at some point we go back to work, hold our children’s hands and let’s move on.