An earthquake in Turkey has caused devastation and destruction across the country, leaving many people without homes or families. In the wake of the disaster, survivors have been making long journeys to search for family members who may have been affected. For those who are able to travel, they are facing treacherous terrain and hardships along the way. Despite the difficulties, many are determined to reunite with their loved ones and are relying on hope and resilience to get them through.
Samet traveled to Turkey to try to find his missing brother Ismail
While waiting for a delayed flight from Istanbul Airport this week, Samet Yilmax held up his phone and pointed to a photo of debris. He said his brother Ismail was buried underneath.
Samet lives in Bahrain but traveled to southern Turkey with scores of people after a massive earthquake killed thousands.
Like others, he believes he is more likely to find his missing brother if he searches the rubble himself.
Ismail, a 26-year-old supermarket cashier, was staying with relatives in Hatay province on the Syrian border at the time of the earthquake.
Others, including his brother-in-law, were pulled from the remains of the building later that day, but Ismail was not found, Samet said.
“I miss him so much. I came to Turkey from Bahrain to look for him. He’s my only brother,” he told the BBC.
Samet described Ismail as intelligent and “shy around girls”. He said he was desperate for good news but felt there was “no help” to look for.
After arriving in Turkey, Samet waited hours in Istanbul for a flight that would take him to Adana in the south of the country before embarking on the hour-long drive to Hatay province.
“It is so cold here. Life is difficult,” he said via WhatsApp message late Tuesday night after arriving in the earthquake-ravaged province.
With nowhere to stay, he warmed himself by a fire all night while waiting for daylight so he could begin the search for Ismail.
Samet and his brother Ismail
Samet is not alone. The BBC has spoken to people from across Turkey and abroad who have traveled to quake-hit areas to search for missing loved ones.
Men armed with pickaxes and crowbars searched the rubble of a collapsed building for survivors in the city of Antakya on Tuesday. They told the BBC they were family members of the building’s residents and had come from Istanbul to look for their relatives.
Medical student Aylin Pulat was unable to reach several family members, including her parents, after the earthquake.
She lives in Mugla, more than 1,000 km (620 miles) from her childhood home in Adiyaman.
With no news of her family’s fate, she took a four-hour bus ride, a two-hour flight, and a more than two-hour drive back to her hometown to find out if they were still alive.
To her great relief, she found that her siblings and parents had survived. But 20 other relatives had died.
“When I arrived I saw that so much of the city was destroyed and there was no safe place for people to take shelter,” she said.
“The only relief I had was seeing that almost everything was mine [immediate] family was safe. I wasn’t sure before I got there.
“When I found them, they were all wearing pajamas, so I knew they didn’t get away with anything. We all froze.”
She said she could hear sounds from some collapsed buildings, but rescue efforts were mostly left to city residents.
“People are just waiting helplessly to reach their loved ones under the rubble. We need support here as soon as possible.”
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