NYT WORLD: ‘No More Antakya’: Turks Say Quake Wiped Out a City, and a Civilization
By Vivian Yee and Nimet Kirac
Section: World
Source: New York Times
Published Date: February 9, 2023 at 02:00AM
Across Antakya, the ancient capital of Hatay Province, the region hit hardest by the worst earthquake in Turkey in nearly a century, thousands were struggling to make sense of a cataclysm that had turned their lives inside out and left many with no home, no possessions, no memories and, for some, no future here.
Many were grappling with getting through another night. Cars were cold to sleep in and too small to hold most families. But they could be warmer than tents, which were just a thin layer masking the total devastation of the people inside.
Either was still preferable to a tarp, stretched over a bus shelter or held up by poles. No matter how much wood and trash the Antakyans burned to keep their families warm, it was still freezing cold.
“No electricity, no water, no toilet,” said Saba Yigit, 52, a nanny, giving special emphasis to the last item.
Thursday was the third day in a row she had woken up, freezing, in the covered vegetable market where she and her family had taken shelter after Monday’s early morning quake damaged their home near the Mediterranean. “It’s horrible.”
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By Vivian Yee and Nimet Kirac
Section: World
Source: New York Times
Published Date: February 9, 2023 at 02:00AM
Amid scenes of utter devastation and widespread suffering in the bitter cold, residents mourned the loss of family, friends and memories.
ANTAKYA, Turkey — They bedded down anywhere they could: on lightless street corners, in grassy little parks, next to an elementary school, on a hillside down from one of the world’s earliest Christian churches.Across Antakya, the ancient capital of Hatay Province, the region hit hardest by the worst earthquake in Turkey in nearly a century, thousands were struggling to make sense of a cataclysm that had turned their lives inside out and left many with no home, no possessions, no memories and, for some, no future here.
Many were grappling with getting through another night. Cars were cold to sleep in and too small to hold most families. But they could be warmer than tents, which were just a thin layer masking the total devastation of the people inside.
Either was still preferable to a tarp, stretched over a bus shelter or held up by poles. No matter how much wood and trash the Antakyans burned to keep their families warm, it was still freezing cold.
“No electricity, no water, no toilet,” said Saba Yigit, 52, a nanny, giving special emphasis to the last item.
Thursday was the third day in a row she had woken up, freezing, in the covered vegetable market where she and her family had taken shelter after Monday’s early morning quake damaged their home near the Mediterranean. “It’s horrible.”
Read More at: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/09/world/middleeast/earthquake-antakya-turkey.html
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