Gaziantep (Agencies)
The temperature dropped early yesterday morning in the city of Gaziantep to five degrees below zero, and despite the cold, thousands of families who survived the violent earthquake that hit Turkey are still sleeping in their cars and in improvised tents, fearing to return to their homes or because they were prevented from doing so.
Families carrying their children wrapped in blankets to protect them from the extreme cold pass through the streets of Gaziantep, the city near the epicenter of the earthquake that hit the country on Monday.
“When we sit down, the situation is dire, and I fear for all those who are still trapped under the rubble,” said Malek Halegy, as she watched the rescue workers continue to work late into the night.
She added, holding her two-year-old daughter in her arms: “We will eventually go to the tent, but I don’t want to, I can’t stand the cold, just as I can’t stand the idea of going back to our apartment.”
And the city authorities banned thousands of residents from returning to their buildings, which are considered dangerous because of the aftershocks that hit the area daily.
The air is filled with the smoke of dozens of fires that have been lit, and supermarkets and other stores have provided families with wooden boxes to burn.
Some survivors have taken refuge with neighbors or relatives, while others have left the area, but many have nowhere to go.
Gyms, mosques, schools and shops hosted them for the night, but beds remain scarce and thousands spend their nights inside cars running their engines for some warmth.
“I have no choice, the smell is terrible, but we can’t go home,” Suleiman Yanek admitted, sitting in his car with a child playing on the steering wheel, while his wife slept with their second child on the back seat.
Burhan Chadash has been sleeping in his car since Monday, as his family is not ready to go home. When he asks how many nights they will spend out in the open, the man who runs the restaurant says he doesn’t know.
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