Oktay, 35 years old (second from right), was working the night shift in a factory in Samandag (Turkey) when the earthquake occurred that killed more than 50,000 people in southern Turkey last February. When the tremors ended he went to his house in the hope of finding his wife and his two children alive. ‘When I arrived I saw that our building had collapsed and the neighbors were trying to pull people out of the rubble. Cries for help could be heard, but we did not have the necessary tools to move the ruins. Although we managed to save some people, we couldn’t find my family . In fact, help did not arrive until three days after the earthquake. Too late, too late. Days later, I was able to recover their bodies. “The earthquake has taken everything from me . “
When Global Humanitaria, which sent a team to the area, spoke with him, he shared a tent with ten other people . In addition to the trauma of the tragic loss of his family, Oktay had to cope, like other survivors, with the loss of home and the lack of employment and basic support services.
In this area of southern Turkey, in towns like Samandag (121,109 inhabitants) practically 100% of its buildings collapsed. All of this caused the survivors to improvise camps where they continue to share precarious tents that hold everything they have. They crowd on both sides of the main road, as close as possible to the help that is barely arriving. The lack of hygiene products, toilets, showers or clean clothing puts the health of the population at risk.
In this sense, Global Humanitaria works with the local NGO CYDD, identifying the needs of families, focusing on children. There we have brought food, clothing and hygiene products, as you can see in this video: We bring aid to Turkey: two months after the earthquake the emergency continues.
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