'It’s a disaster, much worse than people think'

In Turkey, residents of the quake-hit south have been speaking to MEE contributor Yusuf Selman Inanc.

“It’s a disaster, much worse than people think,” a doctor at a public hospital in Kahramanmaras told Middle East Eye in a constantly interrupted phone call. “Roads are blocked. Everybody is doing his and her best. But we don’t know what will happen.”

Ahmet Furkan Oguz, a resident of Adana, described his horror at the moment of the earthquake: “That minute felt like years. We managed to exit the building as soon as it finished. The first aftershock was almost as powerful as the previous. We heard the buildings cracking.”

Kerem Kocalar, head of Gaziantep branch of Turkey’s official Anadolu Agency said at least 530 buildings in the city have collapsed. “There is a traffic jam in the city as people want to leave for somewhere safe.”

As aftershocks continue to rock the area, “even some rescuers are trapped under debris”, Kocalar said.

Ahmet Tuncay Cakar was sleeping at home in Malatya, one of the worst-hit cities. “When the earthquake ended, I told myself Malatya must be wiped off the map. It was horrendous.”

His house was badly damaged, so Cakar and his family fled to a relatives’ bungalow in nearby village.

“All of our relatives are here, now. It is a disaster. The rescue operations are interrupted due to the snow. It snows ceaselessly. The roads are closed.”