Türkiye quakes: With their families under rubble, locals mobilise aid

Zeynep Müftü, who runs a business in Mersin city, has several family members trapped under the rubble in the most mountainous parts of Hatay province, which has been greatly razed by the devastating earthquake in Türkiye and Syria.

It has been more than 48 hours since her family members have not been pulled out of the rubble. But despite her suffering, Müftü has already led an aid delivery from Mersin to Antakya district in Hatay, which is some 270 kilometres away, to help those who survived and are in urgent need of relief supplies and emergency aid. 

“On one hand, we’re fighting to have them (family members) rescued, while on the other we’re striving to gather and deliver supplies to the survivors,” Müftü, told TRT World.

“We need all the help we can get. Everyone’s in a dire situation,” Müftü said, claiming that two out of three buildings in Hatay had collapsed, and the ones standing have suffered heavy damage. 

“Almost the entire city has been reduced to rubble, and we have lost a lot of people,” Müftü said, adding that base stations also collapsed, causing major obstructions to communication, and “only some villages or rural areas had access to mobile services”.

The environment during the rescue operations in Hatay has been described as somewhat catastrophic by locals, with regard to organisational issues and great necessity of equipment.

The Turkish government has said that the adverse weather and snow-blocked, shattered roads have constituted great challenges to conducting rescue operations promptly, and have also prevented the majority of vital aid from reaching the city on full-scale for the first two days after the quakes. 

During the early hours of Monday, southern Türkiye and Syria witnessed a magnitude 7.7 earthquake. It was followed by another magnitude 7.6 quake and hundreds of aftershocks, which are still continuing. Hatay is one of the cities that was hit hardest.

People around the country have been rushing to get supplies into aid gathering centres, as well as donating to Türkiye’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) and other organisations that have teams in affected areas.

“It’s freezing in Hatay. Even people who took shelter in their cars are in the cold because they don’t have fuel and can’t run the air heating,” said Nil Kurt (alias), a Mersin-based lawyer who has been taking part in aid efforts, in an interview with TRT World.

Kurt’s brother and sister-in-law in Hatay were lucky to make it out of their homes before the apartment walls collapsed, while several of Kurt’s friends died alongside their families in the devastating earthquakes.

“Everyone here knows someone who died or got stuck under rubble. There are many people we haven’t heard from still,” Kurt said.

According to the latest numbers provided by Turkish authorities, at least 9,057 people were killed and over 52,979 others injured as a result of the quakes that affected more than 13 million people in 10 Turkish provinces, where a state of emergency was declared.

Locals opened their doors to help

Mersin is a southern city adjacent to the quake area that was also affected by the earthquake, but has suffered minimal damage compared to the 10 provinces that were hardest hit. The city has mobilised to help the earthquake victims.

People in the city have opened their homes to those who don’t have a safe place to take shelter. Dormitories and hotels are also taking in survivors free of charge. Many cafes and restaurants have ceased commerce to provide humanitarian assistance.

“The government, AFAD, and several other organisations are working around the clock to help the quake victims. But we’ve seen the situation in the hardest-hit areas. There is a lot of work to do, a lot of people and places to reach, so we were called to action,” said Kurt.

She has mobilised with many others in Mersin and other areas to get supplies into cities in need of aid. Besides Hatay, they have sent truckloads of supplies to Osmaniye, Adıyaman, and Kahramanmaras, which is the epicentre of the major earthquake.

“We are putting up this effort with our own resources. We’ve been working with organisations and people from these cities who have approval from the governorship to enter the quake areas in big vehicles carrying aid. They distribute the help one-to-one,” she said.

Since the state of emergency took effect, civilians and personal vehicles have been banned from entering the 10 cities to prevent obstructions to official and authorised relief efforts.

“We are hoping to continue aid deliveries, sending at least one aid truck to the affected areas every day for over a week,” Müftü said, adding that they are also carrying quake victims to Mersin - a safer city where they can take shelter and receive further medical assistance - with returning vehicles.

Children in need of assistance 

People, especially children, rescued from quake areas are being brought to hospitals in Mersin and other cities across Türkiye.

“Doctors here (in Mersin) informed us that earthquake victims who have arrived at the hospitals are unaccompanied and don’t have clothes. People have been volunteering to attend them and sending clothes too,” Kurt said.

According to Müftü and Kurt, who are constantly in touch with people on the ground, there is special need for supplies for babies and children in the earthquake zones, many of whose mothers cannot be reached.

Milk, baby formula, and diapers are among primary needs along with flashlights, medicine, blankets, winter clothes like coats, socks, and shoes, canned food, crackers and biscuits that would help keep people full, and hygiene products such as sanitary pads.

Kurt, knowing the grim reality of the small survival rate, said that there was also a need for further heavy construction equipment to extract bodies from rubbles and body bags.

“Search and relief efforts will continue for a significant time given the scale of the devastation, and people here will need more help,” said Müftü.

“There is only so much we can do.”

Here's how to help Türkiye and Syria earthquake victims.