On Feb. 6, Türkiye woke up to a nightmare.

The two devastating earthquakes that struck within nine hours of each other not only caused incredible destruction in the 10 provinces that were the most affected, but the devastation also rippled through every centimeter of the country.

Even though official figures say that tens of thousands of people are under the rubble, we were also emotionally under the rubble as a nation. We cried out together. We held our breath and waited for good news to come from the wreckage. We sobbed together, with everyone reaching their hands out to their loved ones to feel safe.

We felt ashamed of the blankets we covered ourselves in, of the water we drank or when we accidentally smiled. We understood well that the Turkish nation, which seems to have been split to extremes among those with differing views, knows how to function as one heart and one fist during difficult times.

On Feb. 6, the sad news began to spread even before the sun came up. While President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan designated a fourth-level alarm for Türkiye, volunteers and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) alongside the official authorities were vigilant. Cash relief, in-kind aid and rescue equipment poured into the region.

On social media, I saw such images that once again made me proud of the land I belong to. Truck drivers carrying construction vehicles broke speed limits on the roads at the expense of their own lives in order to save lives, while others did not even blink while entering buildings that had been or were going to be demolished to save the lives of others. In areas where most wreckage removal units found it too risky to enter, miners have accomplished the impossible, saving many lives.

While trying to deliver aid to these regions, evacuation procedures were initiated. The Altur bus company is one of the participants in this movement of unity. They sent 15 buses filled with the materials required for the evacuation process. I traveled to Hatay on one of those buses. There was an incredible amount of traffic due to the fact that the entrance to and the exit from the city were extremely crowded. Some gas stations close to the earthquake area were damaged and thus closed. What caught my attention was that even though they were closed, there was bottled water left outside next to a "free" sign. The drivers of the vehicles were honking their horns at each other in an effort to give one another strength.

The convoy that extended for kilometers on end included the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), the National Medical Rescue Team (UMKE), the Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay), military vehicles, fire departments, municipal provision trucks, construction vehicles and volunteers that came in their own cars with their own equipment. In short, there are hundreds of thousands of people to whom we can never repay our debt of gratitude.

My dear Hatay remains only in memories

We arrived in Hatay at the end of that seemingly endless road and everyone emerged in deep silence. My dear Hatay, the cradle of civilizations, shattered my fortitude that I tried to protect with all my might. Yes, this place is now a complete ghost town all the way from the entrance of the city of İskenderun. Habib-i Neccar Mosque, the first of its kind in Anatolia, and the building that served as the parliament of Hatay until it became a province of Türkiye in 1939 were now just memories.

Wherever you turn your head on these wreckage-filled streets, you see an aid station or a soup kitchen. While teams from the Alanya and Bağcılar municipalities are distributing food to the earthquake victims, many other municipalities including Cizre continue to give out food without interruption. Many volunteers who have come via the call of municipalities keep busy without stopping to rest or sleep.

Some businesspeople have taken the lead in establishing tent cities in the affected regions, while university students have formed groups and are unloading aid from the trucks. The military, gendarmerie and police squads are on duty 24 hours a day to ensure security and order.

Unfortunately, even in the event of a blood-soaked disaster, there are times when demonic evil manifests itself. The earthquake survivors and officials I interviewed described an incident that happened the night before that even disrupted the efforts of those trying to reach the people under the rubble. Someone carelessly told a lie that a dam had collapsed, which brought everyone out to the roads. While people were trying to leave the city, the roads reached gridlock and the rescue work came to a standstill.

On top of the mourning, unimaginable chaos has sprung up in the region. I will not think about what kind of evil or mental illness this is, because I am sure that no normal person could comprehend such perversion. As a matter of fact, the chaos continued until Vice President Fuat Oktay announced that all the dams in the region had been inspected and there was no problem at any dam with the exception of the Malatya Sultansuyu dam.

On the one hand, there was the pain. And on the other hand, there are unscrupulous people who add to the fear by spreading disinformation. It is difficult to watch the news of looting and theft in the region without holding back tears. In this case, pain, goodness and beauty have no language, religion or race.

Stealing from columns for profit

As Türkiye heals its wounds, we have all seen how people rushing in from all over the world unite with the language of love. We witnessed how people of all nationalities cried with happiness at every rescue, and we cried with them. Countries such as Greece, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Poland, Hungary, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Germany, Brazil and many more showered Türkiye with help. They reunited children with their families and sprouted new lives from a place that was deemed finished. They brought dogs with them that ran back and forth over the wreckage hoping to hear the sound of those beneath until their legs were exhausted. One of them named Proteo died under the rubble. Lt. Col. Marco Gäbler coordinated the deployment of 58 international Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) teams searching for survivors in Türkiye, and we are deeply grateful to him.

In these lands, people to a certain extent were defeated by nature. But mostly, it was the greedy contractors and unqualified people who despite having felt the smack of nature many times earned profits by stealing cement, stealing iron from columns, building an illegal floor on the top of a project, and cutting columns to gain an extra square meter who defeated millions of people.

Of course, when such pain, anger, desperation and hopelessness are added to the sadness, there are also occasional outbursts of rage. The biggest eruption was due to the fact that aid could not be delivered to the whole region on the first day, and the rubble removal operations could not be started at the same time in all areas.

Based on what I witnessed, it does not seem possible to reach everywhere when such massive destruction has occurred across a large area, no matter how well-prepared anyone is. Amid the 10 provinces and their towns, villages and hamlets, it is a very vast area. It is a disaster that amounts to a rare example in history, and we hope that it is never repeated anywhere. Let me put it in the words of those who were there, it was something of a small doomsday, and a fire that burns not just in the region but also in all people's hearts.

Mankind versus power of nature

I thought long and hard about the delay in aid, and I recalled events from different parts of the world. For example, even though nine days had passed since the flood disaster in Germany, water and electricity could still not be supplied in many places. Damaged and unusable vehicles stood by the side of the road. Residents of Bad-Neuenahr-Arhweiler accused the German government of callousness. In fact, one of them said the following: "A week has gone by, and the first hot meal here was distributed by the European-Turkish Islamic Union (ATIB), a Turkish association. It doesn't make sense, and even if we tell people, no one will believe it."

It seems clear that even though states say "we are ready for disasters" such disasters exceed manpower, resistance and precautions. When it wants to, nature abides by no limits. This includes the hurricanes that hit the U.S., the tsunami in the Maldives years ago, and the earthquake that brought even Japan to the brink of nuclear disaster.

In my opinion, this is the conclusion we should all draw: Nature says "don't come down on me, one day I will take back what you took from me!" In other words, it has long been time for us to leave the sea to the sea, to leave the wetlands to the migratory birds, and to think about establishing picnic areas on the sides of rivers rather than high-rise residential blocks.

I hope these wounds will be healed as soon as possible, and our hands united in pain will always remain as one.

Condolences to us all.