Trekking in Turkey: ‘Hope is wanted’ in the rubble of the earthquake, one year later

Crossing Kurtuluş Street in Antioch (Antakya), the seat of Hatay province in southern Turkey, the eye tries in vain to detect some trace of the once bustling life in the myriad buildings – now ruins – that testified to its multicultural canvas. Scattered human figures emerge from the few buildings that managed to remain standing from the wrath of Enceladus, which just one year ago leveled the area and plunged an entire country into mourning.

“Hatay bitti” (Hatay for “it’s over”) reads the slogan on the wall amid the debris, which catches the eye fleetingly as the little black bus moves down the dark street, which once had the reputation of being the first lighted street as it is said that in ancient times it was lit by thousands of torches. “After the earthquake the slogans on the walls said that Hatay will be born again” muttered one of the bus passengers (journalists from five European countries participating in a trip to the region, organized by the Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations/ECHO). making some of the rest wonder if after all (and) hope was buried under the debris.

On Kourtoulous Street, which was once bustling with life, the synagogue dating from 1890, although damaged, is now the only permanent reminder of the two thousand years of Jewish presence in the area, since the last Jewish residents of Antioch who survived the earthquake (fewer than 20) it is said that they left after the disaster for Constantinople. In the adjacent buildings, time seems to have stood still for those 65 nightmarish seconds of the earthquake. A curtain flutters from the window of a two-story house that appears to have been “broken” in two, while below a couch covered in a thick layer of dust is all that remains of the scene.

Historic mosques such as the Habib Najjar and churches such as the surrounding Church of Saints Peter and Paul were heavily featured, along with the distinct image of wooden minarets rising side by side with belfries and buildings of another era, the Antioch of famous baths and colorful roofs shopping. Only some panels placed after the earthquake around the wounds of the monuments, with images before the destruction, testify to the earlier image of the city and leave a glimmer of hope that its multicultural character may not have been irretrievably lost. At least as far as the buildings are concerned, since the “sea” of marble tombstones that stretches just outside the city immediately brings to mind the thousands of souls buried under the ruins.

It was the early hours of February 6, 2023, one year ago, when two powerful earthquakes of magnitude 7.8 and 7.5 hit a total of 11 provinces in southern and southeastern Turkey, causing thousands of deaths and unimaginable devastation. According to estimates, the devastation caused by the twin earthquakes in Turkey, which in the first instance exceeded magnitude 11 and in some areas approached magnitude 12 on the Mercalli-Sieberg scale (a degree corresponding to a complete disaster), covered an area almost half the size of Germany, with the debris forming mountains and the dust making the atmosphere stifling – especially at first.

Last Friday, in the wake of ongoing debate over the exact death toll and just days before today’s black anniversary, Turkey’s Interior Minister Ali Gerlikaya reported that a total of 53,537 people had died, revising upwards the previous number of 50,783 dead. The total death toll in Turkey and neighboring Syria, which has also been hit hard, is estimated at over 60,000. And the injured in a zone where 1/5 of the Turkish population and 1/3 of the Syrian refugees in the country lived (by the way, Turkey hosts the largest number of refugees on its territory, including approximately 3.6 million Syrian refugees), they exceed 107,000. And those who survived have either sought safe haven in other cities of Turkish territory or are still living in containers or tents, which in some cases have been set up very close to the place where their house once stood.

Lives waiting in the shadow of disaster

A few hundred meters away from the debris and half-demolished buildings in Antioch, bulldozers work non-stop paving the ground for the construction of a new housing complex. In the background can be seen some of the high-rise buildings that have already been completed to house some of the people who were left homeless after the earthquake.

38-year-old Samira, who came to Turkey eight years ago as a refugee from her country, Syria, and in recent years lived a peaceful life with her husband and seven children (one her daughter is now married with her own family) in a neighborhood of Antioch. Their house was damaged in the earthquake and since they had nowhere else to go, after the attempt to stay there was destroyed by the mercy of …the landlord, they found themselves living in a tent. A few mattresses on the floor, blankets, a couple of chairs and a stove that was smoldering to ‘break’ the bitter cold are some of the few possessions they now have. But for the 38-year-old, what worries her and she can’t stand are the insects that often invade – densely in the tent and walk on the bodies of her children, the humidity and the rain, which turns the area around the tent into a muddy place , while several times it penetrates its interior as well. “I’m afraid to leave the children alone in here with the stove on. But where can I leave it outside, in the mud?” she says and with obvious emotion in her voice she explains that her younger children have not known any other life than that of a refugee and the difficult life on stage.

For now, what she wants is to be able to move with her husband and children into one of the containers with its own sanitary area since now she has to share it with everyone who lives in similar conditions to her.

The action of the local independent humanitarian organization “Support to Life”, which in collaboration with Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe and resources from ECHO, extends a helping hand to them, is aimed at addressing the difficult living conditions for people like Samira, who live in informal camps. with a series of actions that have to do with support (material and psychological), their protection but also everyday issues, such as access to clean drinking water, decent hygiene conditions, etc. In fact, the enormous needs recorded in the field of disaster make the development of such projects increasingly imperative until life begins to return to normal rhythms. Although such a prospect currently seems distant…

The first new houses and EU aid for the regeneration of the area

According to data from Turkey’s Economic Policy Research Foundation (TEPAV), 40% of the building stock in the earthquake-affected areas of Turkish territory has been damaged or destroyed at various levels, and reconstruction requirements are extremely high.

The magnitude of the disaster is enormous, commented the head of the European Union mission in Turkey, Ambassador Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut, speaking last Friday (online) with journalists from five European countries (Bulgaria, Germany, Greece , Ireland and Poland) who participated in the mission. “We must not forget the magnitude of the disaster and (need) to understand that the response to it is not a matter of one day. It will take time. The EU has been present since the very first days, but we have also promised that we will continue to support Turkey and the reconstruction effort,” he said characteristically.

Last Sunday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan handed over the first houses to the earthquake victims. “Today, we deliver 7,275 houses in Hatay […] We will gradually hand over 40,000 houses across the region once their construction is completed,” he said during a ceremony, adding that around 75,000 houses will be handed over in the next two months and that the government plans to hand over a total of 200,000 houses this year.

After the earthquakes, the Turkish president had promised 319,000 new homes by February 2024 and a total of 680,000 a year later.

A little over 24 hours ago, when the head of the European Union in Turkey was asked to comment on the criticism that was already being unleashed from some quarters that more could have been done a year later, he noted that “this is a unique situation” and that “the scale of the disaster is such , which is very difficult for an outside observer to say what could have been done,” noting that the Turkish government is trying to do the best it can.

He also noted that for the reconstruction effort, huge sums will need to be drawn from the Turkish budget, pointing out that 2.5% of the Turkish GDP is already planned in this year’s budget, last year’s percentage was similar and in all probability the next one as well two years, which means that the total resources estimated to be needed will reach 10% of GDP.

He also emphasized that the European Union wants to support the entire effort with all the means at its disposal, for a holistic approach to the issue, which will allow the revival of these areas.

The fear of another earthquake

Beyond the anxiety, however, for a new home that will house whatever dreams they have left, many of the earthquake victims also face the fear of another disaster as, they say, the ground beneath their feet continues to shake. On January 25, a 5.2-magnitude earthquake shook Malatea and may not have caused much damage, but it reminded local residents that they live on the deadly East Anatolia Fault. 17-year-old Yasmin, who lives with her family in the Nurdağı camp, confesses the terror that grips her every time she feels one of the thousands of aftershocks that have been recorded since that day last February.

And all this while the winter has just now begun to show its teeth, reminding us of the conditions of last February, when the residents of the province of Hatay and ten other regions of the country saw their lives literally collapse overnight…