Never traveled by train before, Turkish earthquake victim takes shelter in carriage

By Mustafa Gungor

HATAY, Türkiye (AA) - Sengul Kurtarici, one of the millions of people affected by the Feb. 6 twin earthquakes that hit southern Türkiye, has taken shelter in a train which she has not traveled with before.

The 44-year-old woman had to leave her heavily damaged apartment in Hatay's Iskenderun district after magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 earthquakes struck the region last month.

Nearly 1,000 people stay in 27 carriages, including 22 wagons equipped with beds, at the Iskenderun train station since their houses were either destroyed or severely damaged in the massive earthquakes.

Kurtarici, who has taken shelter in the train carriage with her husband and son, also welcomes guests who come to see her there.

She told Anadolu how they were caught by the massive tremor at home early in the morning.

"We got up when it started to shake. Then I thought I would call out to my son. When the shaking got violent, my husband and son rushed to the kitchen while I run to the living room. Each of us went somewhere. When the tremor stopped, we left the building," she said.

Their house did not collapse but was damaged severely, she added.

The train carriage has become their new home after the earthquakes, Kurtarici said.

"We're sleeping here, it is fine for now. It's better than staying outside. A lot of people got sick outside. I have not traveled by train before. We came here for the first time. This is our home. It is hard to live here but it is still better than living outside."

- 'I don't feel the fear I had back at home"

Yilmaz Cucuk, who also stays on the train with his wife, daughter, and grandchildren, said they lived outside for two days after the earthquakes and that they came to stay on the train three days after the trembles.

The train, he said, is safer than their home now. "At least we do not feel the fear we had back at home."

Cucuk said local authorities provide food and serve dinner in the evening.

He also said they "have become family" with the people they have just met on the train.

More than 45,000 people have been killed in the two quakes that shook Türkiye on Feb. 6, according to officials.

The strong tremors, which were centered in Kahramanmaras province, have affected about 13.5 million people across 10 other provinces: Hatay, Gaziantep, Adiyaman, Malatya, Adana, Diyarbakir, Kilis, Osmaniye, Sanliurfa, and Elazig.