Ankara –
Various sad stories came from earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria. One of them is from Hassan Guntekin. It’s been almost a week since the earthquake hit his country, but his wife, three children and mother-in-law have yet to be rescued.
Now, Guntekin can only wait and hope. He hopes his family is still alive under the ruins of their home in Antakya, Turkey.
“I want my three children to be saved. Even if only one of my children survives, it will be a hope for me to live on,” he said. Al JazeeraSunday (12/2/2023).
“Otherwise there is no point in living. I don’t know what I will do. Who will call me daddy during Eid?” he added.
Guntekin also assessed that the Turkish Government had “failed” in responding to the earthquake. Because, six days passed, no officials visited his territory.
“They were very disorganized and couldn’t work at all. It was day six and every day two different teams took part in the rescue,” he said.
“I’ve never seen officials here, neither from the government nor from the mayor’s office. I don’t want to see them anyway. They don’t come here because they know we don’t want to see them,” Guntekin continued.
Evacuation Still Ongoing
The process of evacuating earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria is still ongoing. Earlier, a seven-month-old baby and a teenage girl were rescued from under rubble in Turkey.
The baby was rescued in Hatay City, more than 140 hours after the quake. While Esma Sultan (13), was pulled from the rubble of a building in Gaziantep.
In Kahramanmaras – the epicenter of the M 7.8 magnitude earthquake on Monday – a 70 year old woman was also rescued.
“Is the world there?”, Meneksek Tabak asked as he was pulled out of the concrete. While crying he praised God.
Watch Video ‘Horrible! Seconds of Ruins Rain on Turkey’s Earthquake SAR Team’:
(Mon/Thursday)
