Three weeks after a pair of earthquakes struck southeastern Türkiye, many survivors still recall the horror of being stuck under the rubble of buildings that collapsed during the tremors and aftershocks.
Semra Özkolay, from Adıyaman, was rescued with her three children from the wreckage after being stuck for 12 hours and shared her experience with an Anadolu Agency (AA) correspondent Sunday.
"There is no point in rebelling. Let's hug each other as a nation, hoping to get over this event as soon as possible. If the sun rises every day, life goes on. If the sun rises, there is hope," she said.
Özkolay, 35, is being treated at Istanbul's Professor Dr. Cemil Taşcıoğlu City Hospital. Explaining that she was with one of her children during the earthquake and that she wanted to take the other two from the room they were in and leave the building, Özkolay said: "While I was trying to escape from the building with my children, the walls collapsed on us. I heard my children crying and my leg was stuck. At that time, I thought to myself, 'We're dead, this is it.'"
"This moment is truly inexplicable, you can only understand it if you live it.''
Explaining that she wasn't scared for her own life but that the crying of her children devastated her, she stated that the building where they were residing was not fully demolished and that thankfully, first her children and then she was pulled out from the rubble.
In Diyarbakir, 20-year-old Sena Yaman also said in an interview with AA that her cat, which was trapped in the heavily damaged building for 19 days, was rescued as a result of the hard work of the teams.
Yaman, who was injured as a result of the severe damage to her house in Diyarbakır, where the Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquakes caused widespread destruction, said she woke up when the earthquake hit and tried to find her cat Zeno right after she reached her brother.
Explaining that her usually very calm cat panicked during the quake, Yaman said she herself was stuck under the rubble when the bedroom wall collapsed.
"We were so scared. I was hanging from the open part of the columns. I would have fallen down if the rubble hadn't fallen on me and held my feet. I told my mom, 'Don't move or I'll slide down.'''
''I couldn't feel my feet. Both of my feet were stuck. My mother removed the rubble and saved me," Yaman said, explaining that they went down the fire escape to the lower floors and exited the building with the help of the citizens.
After receiving treatment for her injuries, she said that her mind was always on her cat Zeno, who was still stuck inside the home.
Yaman said that she focused on saving her cat after being discharged. "We asked the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) officials and all the employees in the wreckage to help us by telling them that our cat was inside. I can walk with crutches. We were there every day, every hour, we were constantly going. I volunteered to enter the building, but they wouldn't let me due to safety concerns. Every day, I went to the front of the heavily damaged building to save my cat. A drone was flown into our house and when I saw the state of the house, I knew my cat can't get out of there.''
However, by calling out "Zeno" and hearing her meowing after 19 days of the earthquake, Yaman explained she could not believe she had survived. "Hiding behind the heater, she finally came out," Yaman said, thanking the police officer who offered his help at the time.
Another survivor, retired teacher Ebubekir Aküzüm, 73, who stayed with his wife and 12-year-old son in the rubble of the apartment in Adıyaman, was rescued around four hours after the earthquake.
Stating that the building collapsed like a piece of paper, Aküzüm said: "After the severe earthquake, I held my child's arm. I tried to protect the child. When the floors above collapsed on us, we were stuck face down."
Aküzüm was with his wife Nevziye, 51, and son Deniz Mahir, 12, in their house on the second floor during the earthquake. He said he was taken out of the rubble and taken to the hospital for treatment four hours after the quake struck.
It was determined that Aküzüm had a broken finger and bruises on his hand and arm. Aküzüm, who traveled to Batman with his family from Adıyaman for treatment, said he and his son moved to his wife's relative's house after he was discharged.
Nevziye Aküzüm has undergone three surgeries due to edema in her right arm and shoulder due to the heavy debris. Before the disaster, she worked as a primary school inspector at the Directorate of National Education. She is still being treated at the hospital.
Elaborating on how they got trapped and rescued, Ebubekir Aküzüm said: "My child was lying next to me. My son, he is only 12 years old. I woke up immediately when we felt the earthquake. I grabbed his arm. 'Run, get up quickly, there is an earthquake,' I said to my son. My wife was in the other room, she came running from there. We could see the bedroom door, but I could not reach the door, nor she could come to the door. Meanwhile, at the moment of the violent shaking, I held my child's arm. I tried to protect the child. We were pinned face down on the ground. The building fell to the ground like paper. Our apartment was on the second floor in central Adıyaman on Cumhuriyet Mahallesi (Republic Street). The place was destroyed. We were stuck in the wreckage.''
''We were rescued by the citizens. They took first our child out,'' he said.
Among the many other citizens who were rescued from the rubble and whose treatment continues in local hospitals or hospitals in the capital Ankara and Istanbul are two sisters who almost lost their arms after being stuck under the debris of a collapsed building in Adıyaman.
The sisters, who were saved with oxygen therapy from having their arms amputated, cling to life by gaining strength from each other, the personnel of the hospital in Gaziantep shared with AA.
The treatment of 13-year-old Sümeyye Turmaz and 24-year-old sister Sebahat Turmaz, who were rescued by their brother seven hours after the earthquake occurred, continues at Medical Point Hospital in Gaziantep.
According to the latest official figures from the AFAD, more than 44,000 people have lost their lives after the Feb. 6 earthquakes in the south and southeast.
Meanwhile, efforts to provide aid and treatment in local and field hospitals established in the region also continue, with over 30 hospitals being set up by foreign countries as of Friday, the Foreign Ministry noted.
