Survivors in southern Türkiye recall moment deadly earthquake struck

By Zekeriya Karadavut, Agit Erdi Ulukaya and Ahmet Sertan Usul

AKSARAY / HATAY, Türkiye (AA) – Rasit Durmen went to bed Sunday night for a warm sleep and he never expected to wake up on the ground under slabs of collapsed concrete with a huge earthquake.

Türkiye on Monday was hit by two powerful earthquakes which rocked the southern parts of the country.

Survivors rescued from debris of collapsed concrete buildings in the southern Hayat province told their stories to Anadolu in the wake of the devastating quakes.

"I grabbed one of my twins and my wife took the other. The doors fell apart, my 13-year-old daughter and I were trapped under them. Under the rubble, she called out for me, I called out for her. We couldn't reach each other. Slabs of concrete blocks fell all over us,” Durmen told Anadolu.

"I screamed for help. Thank God, our neighbors pulled us out from under the wall. I have broken feet," he said.

Ahmet Tamer, another earthquake survivor, told Anadolu that they were sleeping when their apartment shook. They rushed outside immediately when they felt the strong tremor.

“As soon as I got out of the building, the garden wall fell on me. I was stuck under the wall with my baby. I have fractures in my back, hipbone and arm. No one could help each other. We were swinging ceaselessly,” Tamer said.

"I called out my neighbors, they came immediately, they broke the wall and took me out. The three-story building of one of our neighbors completely collapsed. No one could get out of its wreckage," he said.

Mehmet Cicek, 68, is yet another survivor who was rescued from under the debris of a collapsed building 14 hours after the earthquake.

"At the time of the earthquake, I rushed to stand between the closet and the bed. The closet that I took shelter next to protected me," he recalled.

"I was wiggling my fingers to prevent them from freezing. At that time, I thought I wouldn't be able to get out of the wreckage, but thankfully I survived," Cicek said.

At least 3,549 people were killed and 22,168 others injured in 10 provinces of Türkiye after Monday’s major earthquakes, according to latest official figures announced Tuesday.

Early Monday, a 7.7 magnitude tremor struck southern Türkiye’s Kahramanmaras province, then about nine hours later, a 7.6 quake also rocked the region, affecting several other provinces, including Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, and Sanliurfa.

The earthquake was also felt in several countries in the region, including Syria and Lebanon.

In neighboring Syria, at least 1,622 people were killed and hundreds injured in the powerful earthquakes centered in southern Türkiye, according to figures compiled on Tuesday from the Syrian regime’s Health Ministry and Syrian Civil Defense.

*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz in Ankara