Quake victim recovers after 9-month rehabilitation

İZMİR

A 16-year-old earthquake victim, who was saved from the rubble 17 hours after the 6.9-magnitute earthquake on Oct. 30, 2020 in the western province of İzmir, is now walking, running and doing daily activities without help after a nine-month rehabilitation process.

“I could not walk a step for two months. I felt enormous pain for months. Now I am back on my feet,” conservatory student İnci Okan told Anadolu Agency on July 30.

After a month of surgeries and months of physiotherapy, Okan said, “I never thought that I would be able to use my right leg again. I was ok if I could limp. Thank God, I can run now.”

“I try to forget the trauma by playing my violin,” she added.

Okan’s physiotherapist, Ezgi Eryılmaz, is also happy to see the young girl on her feet. “We did our best. Seeing her walk is a great joy.”

The Aegean province of İzmir was devastated by a 16-second tremor on Oct. 30, 2020, which killed 119 people and injured nearly 1060.