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The hope of finding survivors was fading this Sunday in western Turkey two days after the powerful earthquake that left at least 69 dead, while rescuers continued to recover bodies from the rubble.
In Bayrakli, the worst hit Turkish city in the Izmir region, rescue teams were still searching for possible survivors in the rubble of several collapsed buildings, an AFP journalist found.
Proof that his efforts are not in vain, during the night a 70-year-old man was found alive after having passed 33 hours buried under the cement plates, and was hospitalized, according to the Health Minister.
But two days after the earthquake of magnitude 7, according to the United States Geophysical Institute (USGS), and of magnitude 6.6 according to the Turkish authorities, mostly lifeless bodies were found.
The earthquake, which killed two teenagers in Greece, also caused 940 injuries, according to the heads of the Turkish emergency services.
The earthquake struck on Friday afternoon in the Aegean Sea, southwest of Smyrna, Turkey’s third-largest city, and near the Greek island of Samos.
It was so strong that it was felt even in Istanbul and Athens. In addition, it caused a tsunami that flooded the streets of Seferihisar, a Turkish city located near the epicenter, and swept the shores of Samos.
“Miracle”
But it is above all in Bayrakli, a district of 300,000 inhabitants, which has seen significant demographic growth in recent years, where the earthquake has caused the most damage.
According to the Emergency and Disaster Management Agency (AFAD), 69 deaths and 940 injured have been recorded. Further 17 buildings collapsed in this city and searches were continuing on eight of them.
“It would be a miracle if someone was found alive,” declares a woman, with no news from friends of her family.
“Earthquakes are common here, but this was of an intensity that I have never experienced before,” says Ismail Energin, 73, a neighbor who for the last few nights had to sleep in a tent at a football stadium in Bayrakli after his house was affected.
Proof that they still have hope, rescuers sometimes demanded silence to be able to hear eventual calls for help.
Hurt and tired, many city dwellers spent a second consecutive night in tents set up on the streets for fear of aftershocks.
Meanwhile, those who managed to be rescued, with reddened eyes and vacant gaze, were wrapped in blankets.
Seismic faults
It is the second time this year that Turkey, a country traversed by numerous seismic faults, has suffered an earthquake. In january a 6.7 earthquake left about 40 dead in the provinces of Elazig and Malatya (east)
Both Turkey and Greece are located in one of the most active seismic zones in the world.
In 1999, a 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck northwestern Turkey, causing more than 17,000 deaths, a thousand of them in Istanbul.
In Greece, the last deadly earthquake was in July 2017 on the island of Kos, near Samos, and caused two deaths.
The multiplication of these earthquakes led the Turkish authorities to become aware of the need to subject the housing stock to strict anti-seismic standards.
According to the daily Hürriyet, several experts have pointed out in recent years the “risks” in two of the collapsed buildings in Bayrakli.
In one of their reports they expressed concern about the “low quality cement” used.
Faced with this new catastrophe, Turkey and Greece have put aside their diplomatic tensions and declared themselves willing to collaborate and help each other.
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