Hatay has been among Turkey’s worst-affected provinces by the earthquake that hit southeastern Anatolia on February 6. Much of Antakya, the province’s capital and largest city, remains in ruins as rescue work has yet to begin. On their last day in the province, Medyascope correspondents Edanur Tanış & Ufuk Çeri spoke to residents who expressed frustration at the slow pace of rescue efforts as a full week has now passed since the disaster.
Rafet Yavrum, a local authority from Antakya’s Güllübahçe neighborhood, toured Medyascope correspondents Edanur Tanış & Ufuk Çeri through his neighborhood, where rescue efforts had still not begun over a week removed from the quake. Showing his own home in the district, which had been levelled, Yavrum described his own family’s escape from the ruins of their building. While the neighborhood has still not seen any assistance from formal rescue teams, Yavrum informed us that a local jeweler in the district had commissioned a bulldozer on his own in order to sort through the ruins of his jewelry shop and recover buried goods. Other than this isolated example, the Güllübahçe neighborhood has yet to see the arrival of a bulldozer, rescue team, or other official provisions in order to assist in rescue and rebuilding efforts.
Another local Jemil Saati, a resident of central Antakya for 50 years, described his experiences on the night of the earthquake. Having successfully exited his damaged house, Saati has spent the past week at a small park next to his house. The 82-year-old Saati mentioned that he’d injured his knees while attempting to flee his building and was concerned that it might rain in the coming days as his stay at the park is still open-ended.
In another part of town, Medyascope correspondents encountered a public dispute being mediated by members of the military. A mother who had come from Ankara to rescue her child buried under rubble had been accused of theft and looting. The woman appeared to be in the midst of a nervous breakdown as she described how her only wish was to recover the body of her daughter and leave the city of Antakya.
As the lackluster earthquake response of Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Ministry (AFAD) has received heavy criticism by both the general public and independent media, much of Turkey’s government-run media continues to tell a different story of the state’s response to the disaster. In another part of central Antakya, Medyascope correspondents encountered one such reporter describing AFAD’s rescue efforts in a broadcast, lauding the organization’s mobilization starting from day one of the crisis.
As the broadcast finished, a nearby local, still waiting for the delivery of the remains from five family members buried under the rubble, angrily scolded the reporter, saying: “You are a reporter, and I did not interrupt your broadcast out of respect. But you mention AFAD. Where has AFAD been since the first day? Since then all I have seen is a handful of volunteers and service members. You are lying to the entirety of Turkey. They [family members] have been lying under the rubble for the past seven days and you’re talking about AFAD?” The argument proceeded to escalate until police and members of the military were brought in to calm the situation.
