“As the building was shaking, I stepped forward to hold on to something. I would take a step, but I would be pushed back even more as our building was swinging,” said an elderly earthquake survivor in Kahramanmaraş, who is now sheltered in one of the tents set up by the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), at a university campus, among many other earthquake victims.
The powerful twin quakes that hit Türkiye's southeast have not only destroyed buildings, but the destruction is very visible in people’s eyes and their morale. “Thanks to our state, we have everything. I think the distribution could have been better in the initial days but now the system functions better,” the elderly man added and asked if we needed anything as a sign of never failing hospitality, as we were moving from one site to the other in the city.
“I woke up amid an earthquake and rushed downstairs with my wife. I saw the building in front of me collapse to the ground. I asked my wife, 'What is happening? Am I having a dream?' 'No,' she said. 'The building has collapsed,'” said a retired man who was able to escape his now heavily damaged – though still standing – building in the city’s Hayrullah neighborhood.
“I lost my daughter and two grandchildren here,” he said in a slowly composed sentence, with tears in his eyes. “I also lost my brother and his children in a building over there,” he added, pointing to a nearby distance.
As we drove through heavily damaged places like Nurdağı and Kahramanmaraş, all we could see were construction vehicles clearing rubble now that search and rescue has ended.
“This was like a small apocalypse. We have never seen anything like this,” said another man in his 20s, playing with his tasbih (rosary) watching excavators clearing the rubble of a collapsed building as if he was explaining a small accident that happened nearby.
Following the earthquakes, both national and international aid poured in. This is very visible. Though in the first couple of days, the search and rescue operations could have been better, as the government admits, towns are now clearing the rubble, while in some places the first steps are being taken toward rebuilding, in addition to temporary tents and container shelters.
What remains to be worked on is rebuilding the human aspect related to the earthquakes. Babies, children, women and men; students, professionals and labor workforces will need to be rehabilitated after the “little apocalypse.” Of course, this will take time and will be harder than erecting new buildings. The flow of both domestic and international humanitarian aid has now slowed down and this should be alarming. Given the scale of the damage and the large number of those affected, international humanitarian aid must continue to assist people.
In the background of this humanitarian tragedy, which is dubbed the “disaster of the century,” thanks to opposition politicians and the media, the focus of the people has now shifted to tensions within the opposition bloc. The second biggest party in the opposition's Nation Alliance, Good Party (IP) headed by Meral Akşener, announced the known but had always pushed the disagreement over who should be the presidential candidate under the carpet.
I previously wrote that the intra-opposition unity is not sustainable given the stark differences in crucial issues. Some two months ahead of the elections, this has created a political earthquake in Turkish politics while further puzzling voters about the bloc, besides also disappointing the opposition bloc’s timing.
The main opinion questions how a bloc that cannot unite around a candidate rule the country. How could they trust the bloc to have a unified stance on issues that have kept Türkiye busy, be it in foreign policy, economy or other domestic issues?
Moreover, how could they make such a big move when the nation is still mourning thousands who lost their lives in the earthquakes?
As the nation is still treating survivors, no one – neither the media nor politicians – has the right to shift the focus to other issues. Healing wounds, hearts and minds should not be the secondary concern. In addition to the opposition politicizing the disaster in the first few days of the quake, the new breakup issue of the "table for six" will also further dent the opposition’s reputation among voters.
