On the edge of Göksun, empty buildings with their walls ripped open showed the power of the earthquake that devastated the town just a day earlier. Icicles dangled from cracked walls, where the force of the quake had torn homes open to reveal their contents, exposing the tiles and chairs that used to be a kitchen and now were left open to the freezing air. Elsewhere, whole houses had been turned to rubble.
On Tuesday Göksun was a ghost town, just over 70 miles from the centre of the deadly earthquake that killed more than 7,800 people in Turkey and Syria and has left untold numbers trapped under the rubble.
Most residents of Göksun had fled in the aftermath, as powerful aftershocks continued to shake their homes. Those who stayed were struggling to survive in temperatures that dropped well below zero, sheltering in their cars or around makeshift campfires and struggling to find water and food, fearing further tremors.
“Most people left,” said resident Adam Tezer, gesturing at the empty buildings around him. Heavy snowfall blanketed rows of squat homes, many whose walls displayed giant fissures where concrete had dropped away in jagged sheets to expose bricks, while others had been reduced to piles of stone and protruding shards of wood and metal. In some places, whole houses tilted to expose slanted rooftops, the ground floor crushed under the weight of brick and concrete.
Tezer walked slowly over the icy streets to find his family now living in their car: his aunt in the front seat, his wife and cousin in the middle and a gaggle of young children crowded in the back. For two days the family have taken turns to sleep sitting up inside, warmed only by the car’s heating system.
“This is the only food we could find, so this is what we’re eating for dinner tonight,” he said, opening a small black plastic bag to show six breadsticks and snack bars that he had salvaged from the only family home still standing. “My grandfather’s house was totally destroyed,” he said.
The small groups of Göksun residents who chose to stay sheltered in their cars around a structure that normally houses a vegetable market, with many lighting small fires underneath its pointed metal arches to keep warm. Nearby, a group of men tried to erect a tent to give people somewhere else to shelter from the wind that blew bursts of powdery freezing snow from the market’s roof, ringed with long sparkling icicles.
An ambulance and flatbed trucks carrying aid that wove through snowy mountain peaks to reach Göksun were the only evidence of government assistance, their red and blue lights flashing against the bright white of sleet. “We’ve seen nothing of the state,” said Tezer, in a tone that suggested he was more despondent than angry.
“Today the authorities started gathering us all here, but right now the main problem is the lack of food and water. We’ve seen some deliveries in the last hour but there’s very little,” said Emrah Akkan, as his wife and three children huddled in their car. Nearby, young children took turns to wash their faces quickly in a municipal fountain under the vegetable market. Broken windows on a nearby food store exposed piles of boxes, the smashed windows either broken during the quake or evidence of looting as desperate people searched for food.
“Every five minutes yesterday the earth shook. I watched the houses sway back and forth, it was huge,” said Akkan. “Forget about houses, we can’t even stay in our cars as we fear that there will be more tremors,” he said. “We don’t trust these buildings, everything is still shaky, we fear that things will collapse.”
Akkan said that the town’s residents were sleeping in their cars out of sheer terror. “We don’t believe it’s over,” he said.
The president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, declared a state of emergency in the 10 southern provinces directly affected by the earthquake, a decision that empowers the state to override the law in affected areas. The state of emergency will last for three months, concluding shortly before an election expected in mid May.
“We have decided to declare a state of emergency … to ensure that rescue operations will be conducted swiftly,” he said. “Our citizens affected by the disaster can be sure that their state is making every effort it can.”
At a petrol station on the road out of Göksun, residents huddled in the doorway to keep warm, anxious to find ways to fill up their cars in order to leave. “Since two o’clock this afternoon we’ve had no petrol at all,” said the manager, Ömer Koca, speaking among rows of bare shelves normally piled high with food. Only a few boxes of nuts, biscuits and cartons of fruit juice remained to feed the hungry people outside.
“Since the earthquake, there’s been a heightened demand for gas. People are terrified,” said Koca. “Many people misinterpret it when we tell them no, they think we’re stockpiling or hiding some. But we’re unable to locate any gas trucks to bring it or even drivers to transport it. We hear that some will start being filled tomorrow, so now we’re waiting.”
He added: “I am unable to enter my own home. Right now I’m reduced to sleeping behind this petrol station.”
