Quake migration to other provinces increases

KAHRAMANMARAŞ

Many people who lost their relatives and houses in the deadly earthquakes that claimed more than 35,000 lives have started to leave the earthquake-hit provinces, as feverish efforts to evacuate heavily damaged buildings have gained momentum.

In apartments whose stairs are undamaged, residents risk their lives to get inside and try to save their remaining belongings.

Residents of the first and second floors in houses evacuate unbreakable items by throwing them out of the windows.

It is possible to see many cars, trucks and vans loaded with goods on the exit roads of the city.

Those seeking to migrate create a density at bus terminals and on land routes connecting to other provinces, while almost all of the people migrating from earthquake zones prefer to go to relatively safe areas close in the neighboring provinces such as Aksaray, Konya and Niğde.

Those whose relatives reside in metropolitan cities such as Istanbul, Ankara and İzmir migrate to these regions by air or land.

Some others also began to settle in country cottages in quake-hit cities or in relatively resistant districts such as Kahramanmaraş’s Türkoğlu district.

In the Kahramanmaraş bus station, an earthquake victim couple, Cemal and Çiçek Ardıç, stated that they bought a one-way bus ticket with the last remaining money they have.

Pointing out that they barely saved their lives during the earthquake, the couple noted that their houses were no longer in a condition to be entered and that they could not save any belongings, and that they would go to one of the student dormitories in Aksaray.

Cemal Ardıç said that they normally make a living by doing hand workmanship, but this is no longer possible as he is already ill and undergoing surgery.

“As life in tent cities is difficult at the moment for us, it would be better to stay in Aksaray for at least a temporary period,” he expressed.

Çiçek Ardıç noted that she could not take anything from their house while running away during the tremor, adding that in a nylon bag she took, there were only two items from the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD).

The couple also underlined that they want to return to Kahramanmaraş, and that this migration is only temporary.

While there is a great migration activity in Malatya, one of the provinces hit by the earthquake, an expert who conducted an earthquake detection study stated that more than 85 percent of the buildings in Doğanşehir district are unusable.

More than 35,000 people lost their lives in Türkiye as a result of last week’s earthquake, making it the deadliest such disaster since the country’s founding 100 years ago.

While the death toll is almost certain to rise even further, many of the tens of thousands of survivors left homeless were still struggling to meet basic needs, like finding shelter amid the bitter cold.

Confirmed deaths in Türkiye passed those recorded from the massive Erzincan earthquake in 1939 that killed around 33,000 people.