world mirror
Six months have passed since the devastating earthquake in Turkey. There are still many problems in the affected areas, especially with shelter. In the city of Samandag, residents are also exposed to dust suspected of being toxic.
The dust pervades the city of Samandag like the air we breathe. Within a few minutes it settles on the skin, settles in the hair and burns the eyes. The problem – it’s everywhere, every day. Because six months after the earthquake, rubble and rubble are still being removed from the coastal town in the province of Hatay, in the extreme south of Turkey. Countless people like Rosa Demetgül live in the midst of it: the 37-year-old, like most of those who stayed here, has been living between collapsed houses for months.
Out of necessity, she spends most of her time outdoors. “That’s because it’s very hot in the containers and there’s usually no electricity,” she says in a calm voice. She can hardly protect herself against the dust: “Wearing a mask outside all day doesn’t work. You eat something, drink something. And this dust penetrates everywhere.”
Demetgül currently lives with her parents and sister Yildiz in a self-organized container on the site of their collapsed house. A difficult situation: Here Rosa’s younger sister died under the rubble. Their son, Rosa’s nephew, is still in the hospital with serious injuries.
The family is still trying to somehow continue. Until before the earthquake, their homeland was known for its abundance of fruit and vegetables, especially for magnificent fig and lemon trees. Demetgül is proud of her garden – but now the beds look desolate, with thick dust hanging on the leaves. “Normally everything should be full here,” she explains. “But because of the dust and all the chemicals that hang in the air, nothing grows here anymore.” Water for watering is missing anyway.
Asbestos and heavy metals in the debris
Every day Demetgül is accompanied by fear and the anxious question: What is this dust doing to us? Because even when the clean-up work in your neighborhood is over at some point, another problem remains: what happens to all the rubble? “They didn’t take it far from here, they dumped it near the beach. In the meantime, it has become an incredibly high pile of rubble, higher than electricity pylons.”
Right on the outskirts of Samandag, not far from the coast, the landfill extends for several hundred meters. Braggers are digging new pits on the huge area, construction rubble trucks are constantly delivering new loads full of rubble. The explosive thing: Some of what is stored here is said to be highly toxic. This is also shown by a report by the Istanbul Chamber of Environmental Engineers. Out of eight random samples from different landfills in the region, four are heavily contaminated with asbestos. In addition, there are heavy metals such as mercury, for example from electronic devices that were destroyed under the rubble.
The Hatay Provincial Medical Association is alarmed. Since the earthquake, there has been a significant increase in allergies, respiratory diseases and eye diseases, explains doctor Ali Kanatli. “Precautions must urgently be taken to protect people, because we know that in many cases asbestos leads to lung or stomach cancer, often only after 20 or 25 years.” The fact that the danger cannot be contained is particularly dangerous. Heavy metals would cling to the dust, almost invisible.
People ‘cannot assess danger’
Activists are trying to educate residents in Samandag about the almost invisible danger. The group “Yeni Insaat Platformu” regularly distributes free FFP3 masks and is looking for a conversation. Many people are not at all aware of the danger of the dust, says engineer Gizem Cabbaroglu – also because they have other concerns. “A lot of people tell us: We’re as good as dead anyway. We have so many victims to mourn and we don’t see any support from the government. Is the dust thing really that important? They can’t assess the risk of cancer because it’s so are fixated on their current pain.”
But some residents in Samandag are already feeling the effects of the dust. Nuray Cinar, who is living with her family in tents near her collapsed house, says she has severe breathing problems. “At night I leave the tent we sleep in two or three times because I just can’t breathe. It’s really difficult.”
Residents and activists report that there is hardly any accommodation outside of the city. Many here have no choice but to sleep in tents or containers in the middle of ruined houses – currently at 40 degrees during the day. In order to contain the dust at least somewhat, the demolition work would have to be irrigated. But according to the activists of the group “Yeni Insaat Platformu” that happens in the rarest of cases. “Unfortunately, most construction companies don’t start until they see the press,” explains Gizem Cabbaroglu.
Queuing for drinking water rations
Water is anyway the second big problem in Samandag and the entire province of Hatay, especially the lack of drinkable. Residents often queue for hours. Because you can’t drink what flows out of the pipes: “The water from the pipes is completely whitish in color,” reports a resident who, along with hundreds of people, is queuing in front of a truck with water deliveries. “We don’t know what’s in there. Lime or something else? Houses are being demolished next to us, who knows what’s going in there.”
The water deliveries are organized by volunteers, also with donations from Germany and other countries. Organizer Meric Gültekin ensures that there are daily water deliveries six months after the quake, without government support. “Our province of Hatay is not just sick or an intensive care patient,” says the man, who is actually a comedian by profession. “We’re still in a coma. And when we’ll ever come around, nobody knows.”
Rosa Demetgül and her family have the same feeling. The clean-up work seems endless and without a system, she says. “Sometimes they work until three o’clock, sometimes only until one o’clock. Then they run out of gas and they don’t come back until the next day. And then the dust starts all over again.”
It is unclear how long the clean-up work and reconstruction will take, but many expect it to take several years. For the people of Samandag this means: the dust will continue to accompany them, just like its consequences.