Upon our arrival in Kahramanmaras, we were met with a scene that defied description. The devastation was on an apocalyptic scale, with building after building, block after block, completely levelled. Rescue teams were working tirelessly to reach those buried beneath the rubble following the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck on February 6.
I had been awoken at 4am that day by Al Jazeera’s newsdesk, informing me of the earthquake that had hit southern Turkey, where my family still lived. At that point, nobody knew the full extent of the damage. However, before I could travel to check on my family, our team had to journey to the epicentre of the earthquake in Kahramanmaras.
Throughout our time there, we witnessed the heart-wrenching scenes of families waiting anxiously for news of their loved ones. From time to time, a call for silence would go out as rescuers heard voices from beneath the rubble. Hundreds of people huddled in and around the debris, scared and exhausted but still holding onto hope.
One woman, Berrin Izgin, told me that her son and husband were still trapped under the rubble. She had already lost a child and daughter-in-law and was now waiting for news of her remaining family members. Hours later, her son Mehmet was pulled out alive, but her husband remained trapped under the debris.
There were dozens of people under the same collapsed block, many still alive, with their families waiting anxiously in the freezing cold. Despite the frantic rescue efforts, nearly 6,000 people lost their lives and around 1,000 buildings collapsed in Kahramanmaras.
As there was nowhere else to go, our team slept in our car during the freezing nights, huddled in sleeping bags. Days passed as the tragedy unfolded, and on the fourth day, the temperature was still below zero.
We met Zahide, who had been near where we parked our car for over 80 hours, hoping to find her son, daughter-in-law, and grandchild who were trapped under the rubble she was staring at nonstop. When she saw our camera, she pleaded with us to report on her pain so that people would know what she was going through. “My dear ones are burning under this rubble,” she said.
Next to Zahide was a Syrian family who had six relatives in the same collapsed building. They had fled the civil war and come to Kahramanmaras to begin a new, safer life in 2013. Turkish and Syrian families shared the same pain.
People were trying to cope as best they could, relying on aid and sleeping in cars as aftershocks continued to rock the area. “God shall save us. We are now refugees,” said an elderly Turkish woman who could barely walk.
The scenes we witnessed in Kahramanmaras were truly devastating. The loss of life and destruction left behind by the earthquake will never be forgotten. But amidst the tragedy, we also saw incredible acts of bravery and selflessness from those involved in the rescue efforts and from ordinary people who came together to support one another during this difficult time.