the roads of antioch -Antakya, in Turkish-one of the cities that was most devastated after the earthquakes that shook the Mediterranean country, are full of red balloons tied over the ruinsdescribed as “the last gift for the dead children” of this region.
“Three children died here. They were one and a half years old, four and six years old”, tells Ogun Sever Okur, designer of the project, to the ‘AFP’ agency.
Eight days after the quake, the nearly forty-year-old man began tying balloons to the ruins of the depopulated city of 400,000, where the noise of bulldozers and clouds of dust dominate all life.
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The small, fragile globes contrast with the monochrome gray of the rubble mountain of what was once a recent nine-story beige building. Cars, mattresses and electrical appliances that were left useless are mixed with these.
But they are not the only elements, because people have also arranged flowers or stuffed animals in the area, to remember in some way those ‘little angels’ who are no longer there. In the same place they raise morning prayers.
And it is that the man, since 2020, with his ‘Association of the children of brother Ogun’, helps poor minors in Turkey, supplying them with toys, food, prostheses or care.
These balloons are for him “the last toy he could give” to the young victims.
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material damage
Today, there are records of 48,000 dead and more than 100,000 injuredbut the number of missing is uncertain, so this figure could increase.
However, relief efforts have been particularly complex, as hospitals in Turkey and Syria were seriously affected. According to the WHO, the earthquakes caused damage to 22 hospitals (fifteen in the first and seven in the second).
Added to this is the conflict in Syria, which creates an even more worrying situation in terms of health.
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Daisy Contreras
Writing LATEST NEWS
*With information from ‘AFP’
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