Education starts in quake-hit Van’s prefabric houses

VAN - Doğan News Agency (DHA)

The classes in medicine and dentistry departments of Yüzüncü Yıl University are temporarily held in prefabricated houses.

Certain departments in the quake-hit province of Van’s Yüzüncü Yıl University (YYÜ) had a head start yesterday, approximately two months after a 7.2-magnitude quake hit the city.

The medicine and dentistry departments of Yüzüncü Yıl University (YYÜ) started holding classes yesterday, two months after the closure of all schools because of the Oct. 23 earthquake in the eastern province of Van. The classes are temporarily held in prefabricated houses.
“The students will complete their term through an accelerated period of classes,” Dean of the Medical Faculty Faik Öner said. 

The university was closed initially until February after the tremor, but education commenced earlier than anticipated due to several efforts by the administration. 

Meanwhile, in a fire that broke out in a tent where the Önveren family lived at Van’s Gündoğdu neighborhood, four people who were exposed to excessive smoke were hospitalized. The fire broke out at the tent erected in the backyard of the family home during evening hours from sparks coming out of the stove. The mother Pembe Önveren and her three children were saved from the fire with the help of neighbors. Emergency response teams transferred the wounded to a Van hospital. 

Gold returned to owner

In the nearby province of Batman, 30,000 Turkish Liras worth of gold that was accidentally wrapped inside a blanket that was sent as aid to earthquake victims in Van was returned to its owner. The Karahan family from Batman sent a box of goods to Van approximately six weeks ago. They later realized they had accidentally packed 30,000 liras worth of gold and rushed to Van to find it in vain.

About 10 days after the family returned to Batman, volunteer Muzaffer Balıkçı in Van, who was working at an NGO to distribute aid, found the gold while he was checking the boxes. He and his co-workers researched to find which province the box came from. When they found out it had come from Batman, they contacted Batman NGOs. Soon after the Karahan family living in Recepler village were informed.

İbrahim Karahan was able to recover the family’s gold at a local NGO office in the presence of media.