Warm bowl of soup comforts Pakistani student after earthquake in Türkiye

By Rabia Ali

ISTANBUL (AA) - A bowl of hot lentil soup and the sight of men, women and children at a temporary camp inside a mosque comforted Shakeeb ul Hassan after a rough Monday when deadly earthquakes rocked Türkiye.

“If we students, (7-8) were here alone, I would be scared. But there are many others here, families, and we feel safe,” says Hassan, who is an international student at a government university in Kayseri. “We are being taken care off. There is food and water, the mosque is warm,” he says, as a man asking if anyone needed more soup was heard in the background.

Hailing from Pakistan, Hassan, spoke to Anadolu over the phone from a mosque, while waiting for further instructions on where he would go next.

When the first earthquake struck, Hassan, who lives in a private hostel, came out of the building, sleepy and dazed. After standing outside in the open for an hour, he and the rest of the students went back inside.

The young man feels that it was Monday afternoon’s earthquake that caused more devastation and was worse than the former.

“I was swaying from one side to another and couldn't climb down the stairs,” Hassan recalls. “The quake was so long. I was horrified that it wasn't stopping.”

The second earthquake left cracks in the dormitory building, which was soon declared dangerous by the authorities and sealed. Hassan was just given a minute to grab his passport and important documents before entry to the building was banned.

Hassan said the Turkish authorities were taking special care of them. “The officials are taking special care of us, especially for our safety and security.”

Monday night was spent by him and other residents of the hostel in a classroom inside a government institute. It was cold and snowing outside, however the heater in the building provided them warmth. On Tuesday, he and his friends were taken to the mosque temporarily. Later, they were taken to the university premises.

Kayseri was one of the areas affected by Monday’s deadly earthquakes which rocked parts of southern Türkiye, and resulted in the deaths of 5,434 people.

A bio-medical engineering student at Erciyes University, Hassan says that there are around 140 international students at his university.

Hassan says that this is the fifth earthquake he has experienced since 2019 when he first came to Türkiye. “When earthquakes took place in the past, I wouldn't leave the building as they would soon be over. But this was so long,” he said, adding that he was left terrified by the constant shaking.