Quake survivors heading back to their hometowns

KAHRAMANMARAŞ

Almost two months after the devastating Feb. 6 earthquakes that hit the country’s south, earthquake survivors who had migrated to different provinces have begun to return to their hometowns.

Thousands of people living in the southern province of Kahramanmaraş, the epicenter of the 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes, left their hometowns in which large-scale destruction took place with the tremors.

The ongoing aftershocks whose numbers exceeded 19,000 were another reason for many others to leave the cities.

Istanbul, the neighboring cities of Mersin, Tokat and Sivas and the western province of İzmir were the provinces that received the most intense earthquake migration.

Stating that they were leaving the quake-hit cities to come back, many survivors started their journey to their hometowns two months after the quake disaster.

This situation also created a density at the bus terminal of Kahramanmaraş.

Accordingly, bus driver İlyas Kavuncu shared his observations about the recent state of the city, stating that many survivors had just started to return from the other cities.

Kavuncu added that he expects an increase in the number of people coming back to the city after the Ramadan feast.

Ahmet Arslan, another quake survivor, who temporarily settled in the house of his brother studying in Tokat, said “I went to my brother’s place to get away from here [Kahramanmaraş]. One day after the earthquake, we left the city in a hurry.”

Another survivor İsmail Karagöl was among the people returning the city. He stated that his house collapsed in the quake and he and his family got trapped under debris.

Electrician Gökhan Şirin stated that he arrived in the city in order to support the earthquake victims with housing.

“I have come to make electrical installations to container cities so that we can at least help the earthquake victims. I have been here for 15 days now and we have completed the electrical installation of 500 containers,” Şirin expressed.

It is estimated that the number of people who left the earthquake-hit provinces and moved to another locations exceeds 2 million.

Along with another quake-hit province of Hatay, Kahramanmaraş was among the cities that experienced the most severe destruction in the earthquakes.

In the earthquakes, more than 50,000 people lost their lives and many others were left homeless.

More than 2.5 million survivors stay in tent cities.