People searching for their missing quake victim relatives

HATAY

In Hatay’s Antakya district, one of the provinces that suffered the most damage in the devastating earthquakes, people are printing posters with photographs in order to find their relatives who disappeared after the earthquakes.

Thousands of citizens lost their lives in the earthquake zone, leaving behind painful stories. While the aftershocks still rattle some provinces, those who cannot find their relatives after the quakes continue their search around the rubble areas.

In the city square of Hatay, the bust of Atatürk and the lighting poles around it are covered with missing persons posters including the families’ contact info.

A poster with the photograph of a couple, Hüseyin and Fethiye Çepni, in Antakya Square stated that the 59-year-old couple had been missing since Feb. 6, the first day of the earthquakes.

The poster reads: “There is no information about their whereabouts. Please spread the word and help us find them as soon as possible.”

Meanwhile, a poster was also seen regarding Muhsin Sedat Kaya, who was reported missing.

The note left for Kaya said that he was treated for two consecutive days in the first aid tent in front of Macro Center: “His face was injured and there was a piece of iron stuck in his foot. It is known that he was hit in the head and is in shock.”

In the aftermath of the quakes, a total of 528,146 citizens were evacuated from Kahramanmaraş, Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa, Diyarbakır, Adana, Adıyaman, Osmaniye, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya and Elazığ.

Officials have conducted damage assessment studies on more than 3.2 million independent units in 830,783 buildings in the quake zones.

It was determined that 384,545 units in 105,794 buildings were in urgent need of demolition, as they were heavily damaged.