site.btaEarthquake Victim Relatives Tell BTA about Devastation in Gaziantep

The devastation in the Turkish city of Gaziantep following the earthquake is extremely severe. Buildings are unstable and survivors have to sleep outside in the cold. Last night the temperature there was around minus 10 C, Yildiz Musin and her husband Bulent Kilic, who is from Gaziantep, one of the most affected towns in Turkiye after the earthquakes, told BTA on Tuesday. The man has lived in Shumen for more than 15 years and is a former journalist. He says that the aid currently available and the tents are still not reaching everyone, and many people are sleeping in the open. 

Kilic learned of the earthquake at 4:18 a.m. on Monday, minutes after the first strong tremor. He is the father of three children who have families of their own in Turkiye. In addition, his 75-year-old mother lives in the affected town, as do other relatives and friends. 

One of his sons is the father of a 6-month-old baby.

"Everyone is alive, my daughter has children of her own, she was alone on the unfortunate night because her husband is a police officer and was on the night shift. When she felt the earthquake, she took her children and went out into the street: barefoot and naked, with just the children. She forgot her phone and at first I couldn't get in touch with her, there was no contact with her until noon. Now my three children are together, with their families, with the grandchildren. I managed through a childhood friend to find a place where they could spend the night and take turns, at least one of the three charging their phone so I could hear from them. We last spoke about a half hour ago. The bad thing is they have no food or water right now, no telling when help will reach them. No bread, no oven, nothing. They've spent the day on biscuits," Kilic and his wife Yildiz further said.  

Kilic's relatives managed to spend the first night after Turkiye's worst earthquake in a century in a factory-like structure.

"The place is crowded, everyone is lined up next to each other, the rooms are packed," the family in Shumen recounted.

Some people spent the nigh in their cars. The buildings in which Bulent's relatives live have not collapsed, but remain inaccessible because of a possible risk of collapse.

Gaziantep is a city of nearly three million people. Among its affected sites is a fortress some 6,000 years old.