Durban - A South African who lived with her family in Kahramanmaras (Maras), Türkiye – the epicentre of the earthquake – is grateful they escaped when the quake struck. It buried many of their friends and families under tons of rubble.
Some residents in the city, who could not endure the pain of losing their loved ones and all that they spent years working for, have taken their own lives.
Maretha Michéllé Cillié Arslan, 45, an English teacher from Worcester in the Western Cape, moved to Türkiye three years ago with her Turkish husband, Irfan, and their son, Craig, 9. The family relocated from Korea where they had spent 20 years, but now they were homeless after fleeing the devastated city. “The situation is worse than what you see in the media. You see collapsed buildings. To us, they were the homes of family and friends who are buried under the rubble.
Mothers and fathers committed suicide on the street having lost their children and their entire families. It is freezing and help is arriving, but the devastation is immense,” she said. On the night when the earthquake hit, her cat, Miss Mable, woke her up at about 4.15am. She felt her bed moving as though someone was jumping on top of it.
She quickly ran to her son’s room down the passage as the building swayed left to right. “It felt like I was running on a hanging bridge. We huddled in the doorway and pieces of plaster were raining on us. I don’t know how long the first quake lasted, but it felt like at least a minute.
We hurriedly dressed in our warmest clothes and just as we reached the front door the second quake or aftershock rocked the building,” she said. With Miss Mable in tow, the family ran down six flights of stairs where they found some of their neighbours who had exited the building.
“Our neighbours were in the freezing cold and rain, many only in their pyjamas and some in their cars – if they had one. The road was blocked with traffic, but we were lucky to make it to our friends’ restaurant where more people joined us. People carried the elderly into the restaurant. That’s when we heard of the buildings that had collapsed,” she said.
While at the Maras restaurant, another quake hit, and out of fear, many inside started screaming, crying and rushing to the door. “I was terrified. We were desperate to get out of Maras and away from the collapsing buildings.
“Friends offered us shelter in their summer home, 30km from the restaurant, up in the mountains. When we arrived we shared snacks we had in the car and sat by the warm fire in silence,” she said. Arslan said aftershocks kept coming and reports of deaths started reaching them. Heavy snow fell all night and the city’s electricity, running water and cellphone networks went off.
“I am just so thankful that we survived, while thousands perished. We have lost everything but we are alive and are together as a family. It’s a miracle. “Many friends and their families are buried under rubble. We are mourning, but maybe hope will come tomorrow,” she said.
SUNDAY TRIBUNE