Reporting
Earthquake in Turkey: in Adana, the search for survivors continues but hopes are dwindling
In the north of the city of Adana where more than 200 people were killed.
Rescuers are still digging through the rubble of collapsed buildings in the hope of finding survivors more than 48 hours after the earthquake, February 8, 2023. © Guilhem Delteil / RFI
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
The toll continues to grow after the earthquake of February 6, and rescue operations continue to try to find survivors under the debris.
Adana, in southeastern Turkey, is the country's fifth largest city.
Twenty buildings collapsed there and 200 people died.
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With our special correspondents in Adana,
Guilhem Delteil
and
Jad El Khoury
In the northern district of Adana, relief operations are still continuing.
However, the city was less affected than others and it is a large city where technical equipment was available.
But here too, people are still missing, probably buried under the debris of collapsed buildings.
During the search, whistles and cries of rescuers are heard.
Then, the machines at work are silent and silence suddenly sets in.
Rescuers are watching for a noise that could indicate the presence of a survivor under the rubble.
After a few moments, the jackhammers resume with a certain caution all the same in case someone is present under this pile of concrete.
In front of the remains of this building, hundreds of people are gathered.
Survivors who no longer have a home, volunteers who have come to distribute food.
The mayor of the city also came to meet the victims to show his solidarity.
Buildings destroyed preventively
A few meters further, another building was damaged, but did not collapse.
The residents left after the first tremor and survived.
But the building is very badly damaged and the places are forbidden to access.
The police came this Wednesday morning to announce the next destruction of the building.
Violating access bans, some residents are trying to recover some property.
Warm clothes when the temperatures are cold (0°C at the lowest of the day), medicines, possibly souvenirs or objects to which they are attached.
A man left with the bowl of his goldfish.
The return of people from the affected regions to help the victims
Many people from these disaster areas are returning home to lend a hand.
Burcu Yozgatli, met by our special correspondents in Antioch
,
Jad El Khoury
and
Guilhem Delteil,
arrives from Istanbul and does not let go of his phone.
From a distance, she attempts to help the people conducting the location searches by sending information that would help locate any survivors.
Urgency dictates his actions.
The emotions are gone, she says.
“
In my family, 34 people died.
And that's only in my family.
I'm so sad.
I cannot express my feelings to you.
We don't feel anything now.
»
Burcu Yozgatli will have taken two days to be able to reach his city of Antioch.
She brought suitcases of warm clothes to distribute to the survivors.
And she wants to participate, like so many other volunteers, in search operations.
Many of his family members are still missing.
“
No one can transport them, locate them under the debris, bury them.
And you have to find people first
, says the young woman.
We were told that one of my aunts had been rescued from the wreckage.
But we don't know where she is: we still haven't been able to get in touch with her.
»
A titanic job, but this engineer promises not to give up.
“
A person is a person.
If we can save a person, we must.
Today, one person represents a huge family for us.
But the inhabitants of the disaster areas are demanding more technical means.
Arms are not enough to move concrete blocks.
► To listen also: International Report - Earthquake in Turkey: testimony of a team of French rescuers who came to lend a hand
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