Hatay- Although weeks have passed since the devastating earthquakes, people still suffer from the lack of housing and hygiene in Hatay. Not being able to access tents and containers, the earthquake survivors struggle to survive despite rainy or windy weather. According to the people of Hatay, Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) has built container cities by confiscating agricultural lands. Some citizens claim that AFAD built container cities on their lands without asking them while they could not find a tent or container to take shelter.

 

‘They built a container city on our agricultural land without informing us’

 Sabiha Ceyhan is one of the citizens, whose agricultural lands were confiscated by AFAD to build a container city. “We do not want to leave our city or our agricultural lands; however, we are forced to do so. We have turned our greenhouse into a living space to take shelter in it. After 15-20 days, they (AFAD) built a container city on our land without informing us. All we want is to take shelter in one of the containers built on our land. Now, we have neither tent, container, nor land,” she told NuJINHA.

 

‘AFAD has confiscated our lands’

Sabiha Ceyhan underlined that AFAD confiscated their lands without informing them. “Although AFAD has confiscated our lands, it does not give us a container to take shelter in it.  We think it is AFAD because we are not told who built the container city on our agricultural land. The container city has been built on our agricultural lands so we have the right to take at least one container. Now, we do not have the right to stay on our own agricultural lands.”

 

‘They throw humanitarian aid supplies’

Recalling the first three days of the earthquakes, Sabiha Ceyhan said, ‘We were left alone.” She also told us that there are still bodies under the rubble. “Our biggest problem right now is the lack of hygiene and potable water. Until now, we have been given foodstuffs but not hygiene products or potable water. They have thrown foodstuffs on us, instead of delivering them. We were left alone for three days. If search and rescue teams had come on the first day, thousands of people could have been pulled from rubble alive. There are still bodies under the rubble. Each family has lost at least 10 people.”