Turkey
People take part in a vigil to mark the first anniversary of the earthquake, in Antakya on February 6, 2024. Photo: Ozan Kose/AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Thousands of grieving protestors in the early hours of Tuesday morning gathered in the public squares of the city of Antakya in Hatay province, to mark the first anniversary of the deadly earthquake that shook 11 provinces of Turkey, claiming the lives of over 50,000 people.
The protesters swarmed the streets of Antakya at around 4:17 am, the exact hour the quake shook the city and destroyed thousands of buildings in a matter of moments.
The protesters marched while holding signs reading “No forgetting, no forgiving” and chanting “we will not forgive, we will not forget.” Some lit candles for the souls of their deceased loved ones, and others clashed with anti-riot police who were patrolling the protest.
On February 6, 2023, a massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Turkey and Syria and was followed by a 7.5 magnitude aftershock hours later. 53,537 people lost their lives, and more than 110,000 others were injured in the tremor across 11 provinces according to official data from the Turkish interior ministry.
Turkey branded the earthquake as “the disaster of the century”.
Earthquake survivors continued their lives in tents provided by the Turkish government and the Turkish Red Crescent, while President Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised to construct nearly 200,000 permanent houses in the 11 quake-stricken provinces within a year, to compensate the victims who had been left homeless by the disaster.
In videos of the protest, the demonstrators can be heard crying out “Is anyone hearing my voice?” the ubiquitous call by search and rescue teams who scoured the affected areas for nearly three weeks following the quake in the hope of finding people still holding on to life under the rubble.
Elsewhere across Turkey, people commemorated the earthquake by praying for the victims after the morning prayer in mosques, and standing in a moment of silence prior to the beginning of classes in schools.
Adana, Adiyaman (Semsur), Diyarbakir (Amed), Gaziantep (Dilok), Hatay, Kahramanmaras, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, Sanliurfa (Riha), and Elazig provinces in the southeast were affected by the tremors.
Antakya among the most severely damaged cities, almost wiped off the map as 6,369 buildings collapsed, and 3,734 others were deemed inhabitable, requiring urgent demolition.
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