“We open dead bags to see if our people are in them, if our children are in them”
By Athena Papakosta
Zafer Mahmoud Boncuk saw his house in Antiochia razed to the ground and with it his 75-year-old mother buried alive in the rubble. Last Monday, for hours Zaffer was looking for someone to come and help him to free her.
He held her hand, could give her water and clean her face of dust. He was telling her that he would manage to help her but she couldn’t stand it. On Tuesday she breathed her last before his eyes. To this day, Zafer’s mother remains in the ruins with his father.
“What would you do if she was your mother dear Recep Tayyip Erdogan? Aren’t you a world leader? Where are you? Where?” she screams.
The pain seems endless in Turkey and the anger is taking over. Most feel that the response of the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been unfair, incomplete and ineffective. Turkey has not experienced a disaster of similar or comparable magnitude in nearly a century. The citizens of the country are surprised by the delay in mobilizing the authorities, with the lack of information that led to the loss of precious time for the rescues.
“We are opening body bags to see if our people are in them, if our children are in them,” said Bediha Kanmaz, who lost her son, daughter-in-law and seven-month-old grandson in 70 seconds during the deadly earthquake. of 7.8 degrees on the Richter scale.
Last Wednesday, Recep Tayyip Erdogan stressed that rescue and disaster management efforts were continuing in all 10 affected provinces, rejecting accusations of a lack of aid, although he admitted there were shortcomings.
At the same time, the Turkish people’s anger doesn’t escape even the misdeeds. For a week now we have been seeing images of buildings falling like paper towers, of bricks crumbling like grains of sand, of entire buildings without even a foundation. The arrests of contractors have begun with the country’s justice minister vowing to punish anyone responsible.
But is it enough to quell the anger simmering across the country and overflowing in the affected areas? For many, all that is left is hope. Everything else was lost. And the small miracles may have continued over the weekend with people emerging alive from the rubble 146 and 149 hours later, but the death toll in Turkey and Syria has now surpassed 33,000 and experts insist it will rise further.
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With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
