17-day-old infant found alive as quake victims set up in tents

Bittersweet news came following the quake after a 17-day-old baby survived because she was cushioned between her mother and grandmother. Father Burhan Güneş was left between grief and joy. He was in an adjacent house in the village of Okçular when the quake struck and the walls caved in, burying him. 

“I broke a window and was able to free myself from the rubble. My first thought was of my baby Helin. When I got to our house, I saw that it was totally destroyed,” the Anatolia news agency quoted Güneş as saying. “I first found the body of my sister. I was in shock. Then I heard my baby cry. … I was very happy to see her, but that feeling went away when I realized my wife and mother had both died.” 

The family of a shepherd was also spared from the devastation of the quake when the father woke up early to feed the animals and pray the dawn prayer. Having experienced a quake before, Muzaffer Çelikel said: “I woke up and got out at 3:40 a.m. as usual before the earthquake. I heard some voices. I do not know why, but I felt a quake would occur. … I ran through my house fast. The quake had begun by then. I screamed loudly and the kids woke up. I brought them out.” Çelikel’s wife said their house collapsed before their eyes after they escaped.

One of the most emotional moments during the search-and-rescue efforts happened when a Diyarbakır team brought the bodies of a mother hugging her 4-year-old son out of the rubble in the Kovancılar district.

Fifth-grader Murat Cirit is one of three victims who died in the village of Yukarı Kanatlı. His father was out of town for work when the deadly quake struck. “I wish I had been sleeping with him that night,” he said, crying.

The earthquake has left hundreds homeless. They are now struggling to survive in tents, each of which is home to more than 10 people, and crowding around bonfires to keep warm while mourning the loss of their loved ones.

In addition to setting up tents, the Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay) distributes food to the quake victims. The Kimse Yok Mu (Is Anybody There) and Yardım Eli (Helping Hand) charitable associations have also lent support to the region, distributing food packets to victims. The Deniz Feneri (Lighthouse) charitable association has sent 100 prefabricated houses to the Karakoçan district. For the people of this barren part of eastern Turkey who never had much to begin with, the loss of livestock will mean hardship and even desperation for a long time to come. There is no significant agriculture or industry in the area. The average monthly income is a few hundred dollars; life is hard, though television antennas poking above the rubble in some villages reveal one source of leisure.

TOKİ to build houses for victims

Housing Development Administration of Turkey (TOKİ) President Erdoğan Bayraktar announced in a statement on Tuesday that they plan to build new houses for those who lost their homes in the earthquake before the next winter arrives. Bayraktar gathered with muhtars (local headman) of quake-stricken villages at a government office in Kovancılar to discuss the matter. Meanwhile, Kovancılar District Governor Selçuk Aslan  announced yesterday that the number of deaths due to the earthquake was 41, not the previously reported 51.