One year after the earthquake: “The crack goes through the entire wall”

A year after the severe earthquake, hundreds of thousands of people in Turkey are still living in emergency accommodation – although the authorities are urging them to move back into their dilapidated homes. By K. Willinger.

One year after the severe earthquake, people are still alive in Turkey Hundreds of thousands in emergency shelters – even though the authorities are urging them to move back into their dilapidated homes.

“Nemo still lives in his first house,” says Bünyamin, throwing a few crumbs of fish food into the small aquarium for his goldfish. The 9-year-old has been living in emergency accommodation with his family for a year. He was able to save his beloved Nemo when the family fled their basement apartment on the night of February 6, 2023 while the earth shook for almost a minute.

Bünyamin lives with his older brother Hüseyn and his parents in a container village in the middle of the port city of Iskenderun in southern Turkey. But the authorities now want them to move back into their old house: the damage is not serious.

A terrible idea for Bünyamin. He is afraid that there could be another earthquake and this time the house will collapse like so many buildings did a year ago. “If we’re in the basement, there’s no chance of survival,” he says seriously. “The whole house will fall on us, so it’s good for us here in the container.”

Erdogan opens new settlements

His mother Mehpare shares her son’s worries. For months she has been writing to the authorities or trying to make her voice heard in person about the fact that she and her family can no longer return to her old apartment: “As soon as I enter the house, everything comes back again. We were there a few times during the day for something out,” says the petite woman. “We got in and out quickly. If they told us we had to get out of here, I would set up a tent in the park instead of going into the house.”

Around half a million people in the affected region still live in camps because, like their families, they are afraid of moving back into a house or because theirs has been destroyed or seriously damaged. Many people still rely on support, often organized through private donations.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced three days after the earthquake that he wanted to rebuild within a year. Now, shortly before the anniversary, Erdogan is touring the region and opening the first new settlements.

Simply demolish the historic city?

This was also the case in Antakya, the city that was worst hit and where a terrible picture of destruction can still be seen today. According to government officials, 20,000 apartments should be completed across the province, but many times more are needed. But that’s far from the end, says Buse Ceren Gül, one of the architects working on the reconstruction: “I think it will take ten years until there is a place that we can call Antakya again,” she says. She herself comes from the historic city, which was almost completely razed to the ground.

But tearing everything down and putting something new there would erase the history of the city. “Here in Antakya there were mosques, churches, synagogues, some on one street,” says Buse, describing her hometown. It was a place where different people lived together. And that is my big goal: to create this coexistence again.”

Buse herself lost her grandmother and aunt under the rubble and has since questioned her entire construction industry: “Of course a building can be damaged, perhaps severely. But that shouldn’t have led to the deaths of so many people.” Botched construction work, but also serious errors in construction supervision, contributed to the catastrophe.

Building amnesties for illegal buildings

However, so far only private individuals, not state representatives, have been brought before the court. The construction sector is the most important pillar of the Turkish economy and therefore also of President Erdogan. Over the years, this sector has grown uncontrollably, say observers.

Building contractors with close connections to the highest circles of politics: This is not uncommon. In addition, there is a proliferation of black buildings throughout the country, structurally supported by politicians through so-called building amnesties. This already existed before the Erdogan government. They later legalized illegally built houses or additional floors, often before elections, in order to win votes, most recently in 2018.

This is also why the family of 9-year-old Bünyamin is suspicious of the structure of their home, an apartment building on the outskirts of Iskenderun. Large cracks have appeared in the outer wall since the earthquake and have been filled over with some cement.

Bünyamin’s father Mustafa stands in front of it and shakes his head. “All the cracks here that have already been painted over on the outside can still be seen in our apartment. The crack here runs through the entire wall.” State experts recently completed their report: the house was not damaged and therefore habitable.

A dilapidated apartment for sale

Some of the neighbors on the upper floors then moved back in. Bünyamin and his family still cannot imagine this. Why becomes even clearer when you enter the basement apartment: large cracks everywhere, some meters long. The family does not know to what extent supporting pillars were damaged, but the mistrust and trauma predominate. “Fear, I just feel afraid here,” Bünyamin says quietly as tears well up in his parents’ eyes.

They had only paid off the three-room apartment shortly before the earthquake, and now they want to sell it. “I haven’t had anything renovated here,” explains Mustafa. “If I sell this to someone, I have to do it with a clear conscience. The person must have seen all of this.”

It is questionable whether they will get rid of the apartment. But Mustafa believes: There are enough people who would buy them, renovate everything superficially and then rent them out.

The family would like to leave Iskenderun – the father is still looking for a job. She remembers too much of the earthquake here, including the demolition work, says Bünyamin’s mother Mehpare. “And the aftershocks have no end either, they won’t let us forget all of this.”

You can see this report on Sunday, February 4th, 2024 at 6:30 p.m. in Weltspiegel on First.