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«I had two daughters, a son, a sister and two nieces. All of them passed away in the same building»

Interview conducted on  04/05/2023

Question: Where were you when the earthquake happened?

A: My story is interesting. I was at home when the earthquake happened and I stayed under the rubbles for 41 hours after it.

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Q: How did you manage to get out from under the rubbles?

A: My nephew, who was my directive, contacted me after 8 hours. I told him: «Whichever executive you have the phone of, contact them and they shall coordinate the hospital». Because, obviously, I couldn´t go to work at the hospital, and also I didn´t know how big the situation was of course, but I knew that my situation was bad.

The second thing that I told my nephew was: «Reach the children first and rescue them, otherwise you won´t have my blessings in any way».

In the meantime, I had two 23 years old daughters, a son, a sister and two nieces. All of them passed away in the same building. I have another daughter that survived because she lives in Antalya, where she studies.

After I got out in the third day, for the sake of my health I went to another hospital, I stayed there and then I came back. I couldn´t stand being here and I left Antakya one week after the earthquake, but a month after I came back. I have been on my duty for a month and a half.

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Q: Which was your job before the earthquake?

A: I was the director of the health services and I was a specialist in general practice.

Q: How did you become the head of health in Hatay?

A: When I was away, I was following what was going on in Antakya and, as a local, I needed to do something for my city. So, I came back I tried to help the foreign doctors because I´m from Antakya. At the same time, working was a therapy for me, because while I work, I forget my pain after losing three of my children.

Q: Right now you are working in a field hospital because the original hospital is in ruins due the earthquake. Do you know how much time they spent building this hospital?

A: All the powers and all units of the State rushed here so everything went fast. In a couple of hours, we organized all the human resources. When we woke up in the morning we had, let´s say, four tents, but when we reached the evening there where eight tents, then the containers, then the showers, then the toilets, then the other necessary stuff. So let´s say that whiting the ten-day period we had all capabilities to service in full extend.

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Q: Are there injured people that still come nowadays?

A: They are coming for post treatment, like rehabilitation or physiotherapist.

Q: Are there people that while going to their collapsed home to take their thighs get injured and have to come here?

A: The first days yes, we had lot of cases like that. They weren’t allowed to get in the buildings for safety reasons and they did it, so some people even died while taking their things. But nowadays, people don’t get injured by that because the earthquake happened three months ago and all the buildings that can collapse have already did so.

Q: The main hospital is in ruins so you couldn’t help people there in the first hours after the earthquake. Is there going to be built a new hospital soon?

A: Yes, the place has been already decided it is going to have 800 beds, so the construction is going to start soon.