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Ten days after the earthquake in Turkey, the search for survivors comes to an end and gives way to the shovels and excavators that begin to remove the remains of the thousands of buildings that have collapsed, before the incredulous gaze of the inhabitants.
With Pierre Olivier and Jad El Khoury, RFI special envoys to Antioch
Everywhere in the city, the same deafening noise. It is the turn of the excavators. The arrival of these machines also signals the end of the search for survivors. Across the street, people watch in disbelief and tears in their eyes as their former lives disappear, bit by bit devoured by machines. Often when an excavator lifts up a concrete block, the remains of a living room, a kitchen, and sometimes even children’s books or toys reappear.
Ten days after the earthquake, residents have realized that the chances of finding survivors are slim. “I lost my uncle, my mother-in-law and my father-in-law. The rescue teams used all the technology they could. So if they say we have to clear now, it’s true. Those who survived survived; those who died are already dead.” says one of them.
Rescuers from all over the world must also resign themselves to the end of their mission. “The Turkish Ministry of the Interior had already told all the rescue teams that it was best for each one to go to their countries of origin. because practically it is already very difficult to find anyone alive. We joined on Wednesday, we were working in Adiyaman until Sunday and we couldn’t find anyone alive. The level of destruction there was quite, quite large,” he explains to RFI Teo Javaloyes, rescue firefighter sent by the Spanish NGO “Bombers Pel Mon” to southern Turkey.
“Nearly one in two buildings was collapsed and the one that was still standing had major cracks indicating it was too dangerous to enter. Any rescue of survivors is a miracle. When we no longer found people alive, working with the dogs, with vibraphones, a backhoe machine would come in to remove everything,” he adds.
A long and difficult rebuild
Meanwhile, in Antioquia several relatives of Suleiman Ayden remain under the rubble. However, he approves of the cleanup operations. “There’s a limit beyond which human beings can’t survive under rubble, that’s just the way it is! Now, finding survivors is a miracle. Bodies decompose and it shows here, so we have to start cleaning up. Also for diseases, because if an epidemic breaks out, we won’t be able to stop it,” he says.
But Mustafa Cashik also wants to think about the future: “The houses in which we are sure that there is no one are starting to be cleaned. And then the houses will have to be rebuilt for the inhabitants. That’s why we have to start cleaning. We have to rebuild the city and with God’s help we will start the reconstruction step by step. But even with thousands of backhoes and all kinds of construction equipment, the reconstruction will be long and difficult,” he anticipates.
As of Tuesday night, the death toll from the earthquakes for the affected region was 39,106, of which 35,418 are in Turkey and 3,688 in Syria.