AFP
Sat Oct 29 2011 12:25:52 GMT+0400 (Arabian Standard Time) Oman Time
Afghan: Afghan refugee Nergis Shovar washes dishes in muddy water in front of the tent that’s been home since a devastating 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck eastern Turkey last week.
“My house collapsed during the quake… I fled the house. Now I am living here with my family,” she said, speaking through a translator, adding that 13 people were living in the tent.
The 18-year-old is just one of around 2,000 refugees in the quake-hit Van province, mostly Afghans, many of whom have seen their homes damaged or destroyed in the October 23 quake.
Afghan Foziye Muhammedi, 17, said she too was sheltering in a tent along with her sisters and mother in the canvas village set up for victims in Van city.
“No father, no brother… only three sisters and mother,” she said, struggling to articulate her misery.
“Turkey is a beautiful country,” she said. “It is more beautiful than Afghanistan. But now after the quake, it is so hard to live here.”
Avogul Kurbaneli, an Afghan woman, who appeared to be in her sixties, pointed to a makeshift shelter she had constructed from nylon.
“We are four people… I have nothing to eat. I don’t have a tent,” she said.
“We want a tent,” said added. “We want bread.”
Van province, bordering Iran, is one of 52 locations nationwide where refugees are temporarily accommodated before being resettled in third countries.
Sunday’s quake killed 570 people and injured 2,500, according to official figures.
The nightly sub-zero temperatures have ensured even more misery for survivors who have been forced to camp out amid fears that even those buildings still standing could collapse in aftershocks.
“We have received no reports of deaths or injuries among the refugee population in Van province,” said Metin Corabatir, spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ (UNHCR) Turkey office.
“But most of their houses were damaged during the quake and they cannot go back out of fear,” he added.
“I came to Turkey two years ago,” said Metini Emini, 24, speaking in Turkish.
“I don’t want to go back to Afghanistan where the Taliban looted our house in Kabul,” he added. “The war is still continuing there.”
Emini said he was working at a tailor’s shop in Van city earning a daily wage of 15 liras (seven euros).
“Only me and my brother work in our family of seven people. I was paying 180 liras (90 euros) a month for my house which collapsed during the quake. It is very hard to survive now.”
Emini is now living in a tent he put up in the garden of the collapsed house.
The UNHCR is working with the Turkish government to relocate refugees who wish to move to another city.
“We are thinking about relocating volunteer refugees to other satellite cities in Turkey. Those who don’t want to leave are free to stay in Van,” said Corabatir.
(Follow timesofoman.com on Facebook and on Twitter for updates that you can share with your friends.)
via Times of Oman.
Leave a Reply