Locals of quake-stricken Gaziantep decry lack of hygiene facilities
GAZIANTEP, Turkey - Most of the people in the quake-stricken town of Islahiye in Turkey’s Gaziantep province have not had access to hygienic facilities over the past two weeks, raising concerns about the spread of diseases, particularly among children.
One woman talked about the difficulties they, particularly women, face to go about their daily needs.
"We have not taken a shower ever since the earthquake occurred,” Ahlam Satwf, a quake victim, told Rudaw on Monday.
“We cannot respond to the call of nature during the daytime, so we have to wait until night time comes so men and other people cannot see us,” she continued when talking about the lack of bathrooms.
“My child cannot sleep at night. As soon as she goes to bed, she cries because her body starts getting itchy,” she said of the effects of not being able to wash themselves in over two weeks.
As a temporary solution, the government has designated a swimming pool facility as a public bath where women can bathe between 9am to 4pm, and men from 5pm to 11pm.
Sara Mohammed, a physician who alongside dozens of others have been sent to Turkey from the Kurdistan Region spoke of the plight of people, saying allergies have largely spread among the displaced people.
"There are a lot of allergic diagnoses here, mostly among children and all of them in general," Mohammed said. "I personally haven't washed since Wednesday. Last night I did not sleep at all because the soles of my feet were so itchy."
A destructive 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the Kurdish city of Kahramanmaras in Turkey on February 6, killing over 40,000 people in the country with its impact also ripping through neighboring Syria.
A 6.4-magnitude earthquake late Monday hit Turkey’s southern province of Hatay and killed at least six people.
One woman talked about the difficulties they, particularly women, face to go about their daily needs.
"We have not taken a shower ever since the earthquake occurred,” Ahlam Satwf, a quake victim, told Rudaw on Monday.
“We cannot respond to the call of nature during the daytime, so we have to wait until night time comes so men and other people cannot see us,” she continued when talking about the lack of bathrooms.
“My child cannot sleep at night. As soon as she goes to bed, she cries because her body starts getting itchy,” she said of the effects of not being able to wash themselves in over two weeks.
As a temporary solution, the government has designated a swimming pool facility as a public bath where women can bathe between 9am to 4pm, and men from 5pm to 11pm.
Sara Mohammed, a physician who alongside dozens of others have been sent to Turkey from the Kurdistan Region spoke of the plight of people, saying allergies have largely spread among the displaced people.
"There are a lot of allergic diagnoses here, mostly among children and all of them in general," Mohammed said. "I personally haven't washed since Wednesday. Last night I did not sleep at all because the soles of my feet were so itchy."
A destructive 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the Kurdish city of Kahramanmaras in Turkey on February 6, killing over 40,000 people in the country with its impact also ripping through neighboring Syria.
A 6.4-magnitude earthquake late Monday hit Turkey’s southern province of Hatay and killed at least six people.