MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

Hatay- Two major earthquakes centered in Maraş caused the fall of rocks from the mountain in the Küçükdalyan neighborhood of Hatay’s Antakya district. In the neighborhood, many people died under the rubble while the fallen rocks destroyed houses. Some houses in the neighborhood, located at the foot of a mountain between Hatay and Syria, have been damaged by the earthquakes. Although a month has passed since the earthquakes, no measure has been taken in the neighborhood to protect the earthquake survivors.

 Fallen rocks destroyed their houses

 In the neighborhood, one of the neighborhoods with the largest Kurdish population, almost all houses have been damaged by the earthquakes. The neighborhood residents live in fear due to the fallen rocks. Sürreya Gökdemir, one of the neighborhood residents, says they were left alone for three days after the earthquakes. The residents pulled dead bodies from the rubble with their own efforts since no search and rescue teams went to the neighborhood for three days. “After the earthquakes, we could not go out due to the falling rocks from the mountain. We were afraid of the falling rocks, not the earthquake. Most of the houses were damaged by the falling rocks, not the earthquakes. No search and rescue teams came here for three days so many people died under the rubble. We pulled some people from the rubble injured; however, they died because we could not take them to a hospital,” Sürreya Gökdemir said.

‘No measure has been taken while more rocks may fall’

The neighborhood residents live in fear of falling rocks. Sürreya Gökdemir said, “No measure has been taken while more rocks may fall at any moment. We cannot enter our houses in fear of falling rocks. Although our houses are damaged, the officials say they are not damaged. In addition, we do not have clean water and electricity now. We were seven or eight families living in a tent for days.”

 “Although more rocks may fall from the mountain at any moment, we are told we can stay in our houses,” Ahmet Gökdemir said, “We cannot stay in these houses anymore because our houses are damaged and more rocks may fall from the mountain at any moment. After the earthquakes, we found an injured woman; we pulled her out of the rubble. However, she died of the cold because we could not take her to the hospital. We were left alone here for days. Only a team of AFAD came here after days. They left our neighborhood after setting up tents.”