Debris, rescue and hope in Turkey’s earthquake epicenter

NURDAGI, Turkey (AP) — Zeliha Hisir tried to speak but could barely move after her hours-long rescue Tuesday near the epicenter of a powerful earthquake that has devastated parts of Turkey and Syria.

The 58-year-old woman’s eyes darted in shock and relief as a rescue crew wrapped her in a bright pink and green fluffy blanket. Wearing only shorts and a t-shirt, she survived the freezing temperatures in Kahramanmaras.

Her son Mufit Hisir told The Associated Press that firefighters who flew in from Antalya saved his relatives.

“Two hours ago my sibling was rescued after a six hour effort. And it took two hours to rescue my mother. They’re both fine,” he said.

Crowds gathered at rubble sites across Turkey, steam showing the air as people inhaled and exhaled in anticipation of reaching more survivors. Even those who surfaced or escaped the collapse in Monday’s 7.8-magnitude quake and its aftershocks were now forced to sleep in cars, outdoors or in government shelters.

Many felt abandoned.

“We don’t have a tent, we don’t have a stove, we don’t have anything. Our children are in bad shape. We all get wet under the rain and our kids are out in the cold,” Aysan Kurt, 27, told the AP. “We didn’t die of hunger or earthquakes, but we will die of cold. It shouldn’t be like that. Nobody sends help.”

In Kahramanmaras province, where supermarket shelves were empty, people queued at a Mevlut Ercan restaurant to buy flatbread.

“We need flour. There is no flour,” said Ercan. “People are desperate. We are desperate too. We will do what we can for the people as long as we can.”

Yasar Magara, who was waiting for a piece of pita, said, “We have been hungry for days. Our church and the others have not yet helped us.”

In the city of Nurdagi, residents who lost loved ones said relatives could be saved if rescue teams had arrived earlier. Steel bars jutted out of ruined concrete like vines that rescuers had to work around in the city beneath snow-capped hills.

“My sister has four children. She has a sister-in-law, in-laws and nephews and nieces. they’re all gone They’re all gone,” said Nilufer Sarigoz, putting her face in her hands and sobbing.

Men cried as they blessed four bodies wrapped in blankets in the back of a pickup truck.

Sixteen-year-old Havva Topal still hadn’t heard from her uncle, his wife and children, who were inside a burning building.

“We haven’t heard anything, no news,” she said. “The building collapsed after the earthquake and a fire broke out 15-20 minutes later. No firefighters came, no excavators. We tried to save her ourselves by scooping up water with plates.”

“Our landlord’s wife was brought out yesterday,” she later added. “They were charred, in pieces, in a terrible state.”

Mehmet Guzel, The Associated Press

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