Two days after a collection of earthquakes hit southern Turkey, aid efforts are but to succeed in some areas of the nation. The province of Hatay, which is residence to some 500,000 Syrian refugees, has been notably arduous hit, with rescue groups overwhelmed by the extent of destruction. Assist has been delayed by the substantial injury the earthquake has triggered to the roads and the civilian airport close to the provincial capital, Antakya.
Al Jazeera spoke to 2 Syrian refugee girls, who reside within the city of Reyhanli in Hatay province, close to the border with Syria. Each had been widowed within the conflict in Syria and had fled throughout the border seven years in the past, in the hunt for security for their youngsters. Right here is how they described the scenario.
Um Hadi, mom of 4
When the primary earthquake hit, we had been visiting Um Khalid. We felt that the home would swallow us, we felt we had been going to die. The electrical energy went off, however we managed to run exterior.
Cries, wails, worry, chilly, and rain! It was worse than the bombardment in Syria, worse than the fighter jets. When the jets are coming to bomb, you hear them, you recognize they’re coming, you’ll be able to disguise. With the earthquake, you don’t know when it can hit.
We received out and stayed beneath a tree within the chilly, because the earth saved shaking. We had been freezing so we began a small hearth to maintain heat. There was nowhere to go and we had been too afraid to return inside our houses, which had been nonetheless standing however had been broken by the earthquake.
Now we have spent two nights like this already, sitting on chairs exterior, within the chilly, not having a minute of sleep. We’re homeless refugees but once more.
At the moment, the municipality put up a number of tents for folks to make use of as shelter, however no assist has reached us, nobody has come to assist us.
The bakeries are usually not working. Even if you wish to purchase bread, you’ll be able to’t discover any. I went round the entire city seeking to purchase meals for our kids and couldn’t discover something however biscuits and samoon [a type of bun], and people had been costly, too.
The costs of every part have jumped two to 3 instances. I purchased a candle to have some mild at evening; it’s 15 lira now [$0.80], it was once 4 [$0.20].
There’s nonetheless no electrical energy, no working water, no gasoline, no gasoline. The hospitals are all broken. There have been additionally folks killed by the earthquake. We heard the minaret of 1 mosque fell on a automotive the place a household was hiding and killed them. There are different victims too, however not as a lot as Antakya. There, there are such a lot of lifeless, most of them Syrians.
And in Syria, the scenario is even worse. So many lifeless. I misplaced some kin, too.
Um Khalid, mom of three
Thank God we’re alive. However we’ve got been sitting exterior within the chilly and rain since Monday morning now.
My youngsters are with us out in these freezing temperatures. They’re afraid, they’re shaking from the chilly in entrance of my eyes; one is already sick. God have mercy on us.
I’ve misplaced kin within the earthquake. My cousin misplaced his spouse and youngsters; one other relative misplaced her youngsters in Syria. So many individuals died.
We don’t dare to go inside our houses. I reside on the primary flooring and am nonetheless afraid. The constructing didn’t collapse however it was broken. They usually advised us that the multi-storey buildings are usually not secure and we should always not go in.
There isn’t any electrical energy, no working water. We’re shopping for water to drink. A small truck comes by and sells it for 15 lira [$0.80] a bottle. They’re all exploiting the scenario.
Yesterday evening, the authorities got here and gave out one samoon per household. Think about, one samoon for the 4 of us.
The roads are reduce off and we can’t go anyplace else. We’re on our personal, there are not any assist organisations right here, no authorities assist.
The scenario was already unhealthy earlier than this occurred. The hire was going up, the costs had been going up. We had been struggling greater than after we had been in Syria. We had been already going hungry. Could God assist us.
Each Um Hadi and Um Khalid used pseudonyms for safety causes
Observe Mariya Petkova on Twitter @mkpetkova
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