MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

Semsûr (Adıyaman)- The devastating Maraş earthquakes have killed ten thousands of people in 10 cities of Türkiye. While struggling with the chaos caused by the earthquakes, the quake survivors also struggle against torrential rains and storms. Whenever it rains, their tents are submerged. Yesterday, the tents of quake survivors in Semsûr were submerged again due to the heavy rain and a storm brought down power lines, causing the electrical power blackout.

The quake survivors in the city say their tents have been submerged many times and that AFAD (Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority) and municipality have provided no support to them.

‘Our tent is submerged’

Star Gezer, one of the quake survivors in the city, lost her house in the earthquakes and she has to stay in a tent with her family. “Whenever it rains, our tent is submerged. We cannot do anything due to the cold weather,” Star Gezer said that her house collapsed in the earthquakes. “Our house collapsed, our children died. Adıyaman has been wiped off the map. We do not have firewood or something else to protect us from the cold weather. We have to stay in the tent although our tent is submerged. This year is colder than previous years. We receive no support from anyone. Now, we wish we’d have died instead of living like that.”

‘Nothing changes’

While walking around the tents, we saw Suna Gözek, who was trying to clean her tent flooded by rain. “We experience the same thing whenever it rains. Whenever it rains, our tent is submerged. Nothing changes. My twins stay in the tent although it is cold.  We have a tent to take shelter in it but it is flooded whenever it rains. Everywhere is wet now,” she told us

Sevda Gezer struggles to survive with her three disabled children in a tent. The rain has flooded her tent. Anything to keep them warm such as pillows and blankets in the tent were wet when we talked to her today. “My tent was flooded last night. Our pillows and blankets are wet now. We have no coal or firewood to keep us warm now. Whenever it rains, my children are scared. Not only me, but also all my neighbors experience the same thing. Neither the officials from municipality nor state authorities have visited us to see what we are facing. We are left alone again,” Sevda Gezer told us.

‘Why do we face the same thing again and again?’

Another quake survivor, Fatma Can also lost her house in the earthquakes. She told us that she had to stay in a tent because she did not have any place to take shelter with her family. “Whenever it rains, our tent is flooded; we suffer from water and electricity shortages. We have no coal or firewood to keep us warm. Why do we face the same thing again and again?. We look for a house to rent but there is no house for rent. We are desperate.”