Turkey, four days after the earthquake: streets full of corpses, mass graves and pain

Thousands of fatalities, thousands of injuries, thousands of missing persons and thousands of buildings completely destroyed. The image of Turkey and Syria four days after the series of earthquakes that have devastated a large part of both countries is that of almost unprecedented devastation; the deadliest recorded in that area in a century. Desperation also grows at times: in some collapsed buildings the voices of survivors can be heard, but they cannot be helped due to the lack of specialized equipment.

“No one can even live in the houses that were not destroyed. Half of the houses in the village are destroyed.“, denounce the neighbors, who demand more help in the face of the chaos from their government:” Is this State such a small thing? There is nothing. We cannot bury our dead. There are corpses everywhere“Yes, the lifeless bodies of the many deceased accumulate in the streets due to the lack of personnel prepared for their transfer. Indeed, the union of health workers in Turkey warned this Thursday of the poor hygienic conditions in the devastated area.

Specifically, the agency has warned that corpses kept outdoors are an “invitation” for epidemics. “We do not work with administrators who know how to manage emergency situations. The transfer of the corpses was not even considered. (The neighbors) keep them wrapped in blankets. Not even funeral bags,” said the workers of said union, pointing out that “it should have cold rooms to keep the bodies waiting”. Such an image is also affecting the mental health of the survivors.

Over the past few days, numerous families and groups of neighbors move with their own hands, wrapped in all kinds of fabrics, those corpses to which the Turkish administrations have not been able to give a dignified farewell, since the morgues are no longer able to receive more. Thus, many parts of the country have ended up turning into makeshift mass graves, where multiple Turks gather to mourn their dead and show their pain and anger over their losses. Those bodies that have been able to be transferred do not have a better fate either: many have ended up piled up in front of hospitals due to the collapse of health centers to deal with this situation.

Another problem is the quality of the water in the devastated area, where much of the infrastructure has been destroyed. “When clean water cannot be provided, diseases spread rapidly. The waters flow brown in Malatya (a city east of the epicenter). People who have to drink the water will have diarrhea and dysentery,” the utility concluded. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed on Thursday the death of 14,014 people as a result of last Monday’s earthquakes, although experts fear that tens of thousands of people may still be under the rubble.

There is no good news for those who have been able to survive either. For days now, the surviving women, children and elderly residents in the points most affected by the earthquake have been in terrible conditions: not only sharing space with lifeless bodies; also, without access to basic necessities and with temperatures of several degrees below zero: “No one in the city can enter any building due to the danger of collapse. Going to the toilet, something so far simple, is a very big problem. There is no water at home or at the gas station”. The drama continues like this for one more day in Turkey.