ISKENDERU Sibel Genç sighs deeply as he watches ‘s February news story about the earthquake in Turkey.
– This shows when someone is found alive. That’s great. If only we were as lucky, says Genç.
Genç lives in the earthquake-ravaged city of Iskenderun in southern Turkey.
Gençi’s own residence was not seriously damaged. In ‘s story, it was followed how Genç waited in front of another collapsed house.
Sibel Gençi’s 31-year-old son and his wife were left in the ruins of the house.
You can watch the news story here.
The wait ended in sadness
The wait ended up being four days. Then Gençi’s son and daughter-in-law were found dead.
– The earthquake struck in the morning. They were found in bed hugging each other.
Genç says he misses his son and daughter-in-law every day. However, he is relieved that the bodies were found. At least now there is a grave to go to.
In the city of Iskenderun, there are signs that everyday life is superficially returning to normal. The shops are open and the streets are busy.
However, the earthquake is still present in everyday life.
– It’s on people’s minds all the time, says Sibel Genç.
– Some neighbors sleep in tents set up in front of their houses. They don’t dare to spend the night indoors.
Antakya is almost a ghost town
Parliamentary and presidential elections will be held in Turkey on Sunday. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has emphasized before the elections how the earthquake area is to be rebuilt quickly and how normal life is already returning.
Further south in the city of Antakya, there are hardly any signs of a return to normality.
On the outskirts of the city, a high-reaching excavator is tearing up a seven-story building. Sometimes large boulders fall to the ground.
The student dormitory did not collapse, and the residents were saved. But now the house has to be demolished.
Similar houses can be seen everywhere. In tall apartment buildings, curtains flutter from broken windows. Here and there the wall has collapsed, and from the outside you can peek directly into the abandoned apartment.
“I hope that the power will change”
in the center of Antakya Meral Gülerüz and her husband sell cigarettes from a car on an almost deserted riverside street.
– The situation here is really bad, and the direction is not right. We are told that there are still bodies in the ruins, says Güleryüz.
It is difficult to verify the claim, but some of the collapsed houses have yet to be cleared.
– I lost my home and my job, and the supermarket I owned was also destroyed. Now there are only debts left, says Güleryüz.
Güleryüz lives in a tent. His family is queuing for a place in the container cities erected on the other side of the earthquake zone.
President Erdoğan’s authoritarian regime has been accused of delaying rescue efforts after the earthquakes.
In Antakya, help was waited for several days.
Meral Güleryüz hopes that there will be a change of power in the elections.
– Now we have been forgotten here. Maybe the new people in power would care about us.
Goldsmith believes in government
Not everyone is equally dissatisfied.
Muhammed Kadir renovating his goldsmith shop in the bazaar.
– We are really grateful to the government, they have helped a lot. However, there is a feeling that our region has been a bit forgotten, he says.
However, Kadir believes that the current administration will be able to solve the problems caused by the earthquake.
Kadir’s goldsmith’s shop is one of the few shops in the bazaar that shows life. The bazaar is full of rubbish, and the shops are closed.
At the entrance, a sign says that renovation work will start soon.
– It will take ten years, says a man passing by.