Two months after a devastating earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale, Antioch is still bathed in the smell of death. The city has the most casualties. Twenty thousand dead and thousands of buildings razed to the ground or in ruins. Today, in many places the ruins have not been removed. The bodies are still buried under the rubble. That is why many residents fear at least twice as many deaths.

In the center of the historic city, which “K” visited in the previous days, almost no one lives. Of the 1.4 million inhabitants, those who survived and were able to leave left. Almost a million people left for other cities or relatives, or with the care of the Turkish authorities temporarily settled in hotels, residences, hostels, etc. The rest are in the surrounding villages or in camps set up on the outskirts of the city.

Hundreds of excavators and the same number of trucks began to clear the rubble. Entire blocks have already been cleared. According to Interior Minister Suleiman Soylu, 800 excavators and trucks make 8,000 trips a day in the province of Hatay, which includes Antioch. The goal is 12,000 routes per day. Food, clothing and hygiene needs are covered with the help of municipalities, prefectures, dozens of Turkish and international NGOs, coordinated by the Turkish Disaster Management Agency (AFAD). On the outskirts of Antioch, 22 warehouses and distribution centers were set up to meet all the needs of those affected by the earthquake. The city has restored the electricity network, 91% of the water supply, 99.9% of telecommunications, 56% of the natural gas network. Of course, these figures refer to residential areas.

In tents and containers

Twenty thousand died, but bodies lie under the ruins. Many fear that there will be twice as many dead.

All earthquake victims living in the city are settled in camps with tents, as well as in containers. The main goal of the Turkish authorities is to quickly resettle the victims of the earthquake in container houses. AFAD’s short-term plan calls for 140 camps with a total of 40,000 containers. The long-term plan is to complete the construction of thousands of apartment buildings, but within a few kilometers of downtown Antioch.

We visited the camp, created from the first 511 containers sent by Qatar, where 1574 earthquake victims have already settled down today. These are ready-made, small houses that were used at the 2022 World Cup. What the Turkish authorities are doing today is roofing the containers, as they were built for the climatic conditions of Qatar, and in Antioch with heavy rains there, it is a need for insulation. We didn’t see many air conditioners. We learned that there is a plan to install them, but everyone admits that the cost is huge. Due to the huge needs, an open-air hospital and many clinics were opened in the city. The Turkish government promises that thousands of apartment buildings will be built within a year. However, so far we have seen some of them start to grow.

One of the main concerns of the authorities is education, and schools are already being built from containers as well as prefabricated houses. Of course, the infrastructure is not enough. Of the 24,000 teachers who lived in the city, 19,000 left!

The city’s approximately 1,400 Orthodox Christians were also hard hit – 40 – the official death toll in their community. All the rest left the city and dispersed either to the villages of the countryside or to other cities, no one was left! Fadi Khurigil, president of the Antioch Orthodox Church Foundation, shows us the ruins of the historic Peter and Paul Orthodox Church. It was completely destroyed, as were the 40 shops that were around it and belonged to the community. The main goal, Mr. Khurigil tells us, is to build container cities in the villages so that some return, and later the restoration of the Holy Temples in the area begins. There are already promises on this score from the Turkish authorities. On Easter Sunday, together with several Orthodox, they plan to be on the ruins of the Holy Temple.

Shortly before dark we decided to leave Antioch. The airport operates only for earthquake victims, journalists and those involved in reconstruction. Our flight, like the next one, was cancelled. So we decided to go to Adana to catch the return plane. Approximately 4 kilometers from the city of Antioch, we saw hundreds of wrecked cars piled in a heap on a large embankment. A little further on was a candy store. Dalgach Kunefe, when we arrived on February 7th, was closed as it was also damaged. Now it works again. The owners told us they are trying to get their lives back on track and are signaling resistance to what has tragically happened. Despite difficult conditions, kiunefe remains magnificent.