Elderly woman loses five family members in Turkey quake
GAZIANTEP, Turkey - Ten days have passed since the devastating earthquake but the pain Malak Omar feels after losing five members of her family is yet to be soothed.
She weeps for the family members who did not make it alive in the quake that shattered both her heart and her house all at once.
The elderly woman lost her daughter, her son-in-law, and three grandchildren aged between 1 and 15. Her 12-year-old grandson Hussein was the only one to make it out of the rubble alive.
She wept and she spoke about those who were lost and recounted the excitement with which her daughter and son-in-law had welcomed their last child,
“My daughter, the husband of my daughter, and her children are all dead,” she cried.
A destructive 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the Kurdish city of Kahramanmaras in Turkey on February 6, with its impact also ripping through neighbouring Syria. Another quake followed in both countries hours later.
Over 42,000 people have died in both Turkey and Syria as a result of the quake.
The chances of survivors being pulled from under the rubble alive have also plummeted due to the government’s slow response to the natural disaster, with residents dissatisfied and saying they have been neglected.
She weeps for the family members who did not make it alive in the quake that shattered both her heart and her house all at once.
The elderly woman lost her daughter, her son-in-law, and three grandchildren aged between 1 and 15. Her 12-year-old grandson Hussein was the only one to make it out of the rubble alive.
She wept and she spoke about those who were lost and recounted the excitement with which her daughter and son-in-law had welcomed their last child,
“My daughter, the husband of my daughter, and her children are all dead,” she cried.
A destructive 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the Kurdish city of Kahramanmaras in Turkey on February 6, with its impact also ripping through neighbouring Syria. Another quake followed in both countries hours later.
Over 42,000 people have died in both Turkey and Syria as a result of the quake.
The chances of survivors being pulled from under the rubble alive have also plummeted due to the government’s slow response to the natural disaster, with residents dissatisfied and saying they have been neglected.