Rescue workers from around the world are scouring the rubble of destroyed buildings in Turkey and Syria after two powerful earthquakes left at least 5,000 people dead across both countries.
Thousands of people in Turkey have been rescued across 10 provinces so far as efforts to find survivors in both countries are well into their second day.
Some of the survivors of the earthquakes have been sharing their stories as people in Turkey and Syria prepare to begin rebuilding their lives.
‘A wooden door fell on us which saved us’
Osama Abdul Hamid and his wife and four children, who live in the village of Azmarin in Syria, barely made it out of their apartment alive when the earthquake struck.
Their neighbours were not so lucky.
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“God saved us and a wooden door fell on us which saved us,” he said.
“My three kids are here with wounds on their heads and faces, and my daughter was safe without any injury.”
‘We waited all day – there was no help from the government’
Mustafa Kara Ali, from Gaziantep in Turkey, was fast asleep with his wife when the earthquake hit in the early hours of the morning.
Speaking to Sky News from a rescue shelter, he told of his desperation to get their two daughters outside as people ran screaming for safety.
“The weather made everything more difficult, it was snowing, windy and raining. Thousands of people were gathered in the park all day, with no blankets, water or shelter. We waited all day and there was no help from the government.”
Mr Ali works for a children’s charity called Kids Rainbow, which provides education for Syrian refugees. All their children and volunteers are safe and many of them are now in a shelter with their families.
Around 600 people, including 120 children, are desperately waiting for food, water and to find out if any of them will be able to return to their homes.
‘Everyone was scared’
Alper Erkmen, a pharmacist living in the Turkish city of Gaziantep, had to wake up his wife and children when the earthquake struck.
He said: “Everyone in the house was asleep when it started, except me. It was the middle of the night. It lasted for one and a half minutes and it was a very strong earthquake.
“I was there during the 1999 earthquake in Gölcük, Turkey. It was even worse than that. As soon as the earthquake started, I ran to my children and my wife, woke them up and told them to wait for the earthquake to end in a safe place immediately. Everyone was so scared.
“Most of the items in the house had fallen to the floor while leaving the house. It’s cold and rainy here, we’ve been waiting in the car since we went out. Thank God we are all fine.
“But everyone is very afraid. I honestly don’t know what will happen. Aftershocks are still happening, right now I’m just waiting for them to end as soon as possible.
“The house is standing but I have no idea if it is suitable to live in.”
Uncle tells how toddler survived while her mother and siblings were killed
A Syrian toddler was found alive in the rubble of her home after a powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake killed her mother, brother and sister.
Raghad Ismail, who is 18 months, was discovered unscathed in fallen debris in the Syrian city of Azaz at daybreak on Monday.
Her uncle, who was looking after her, said the girl’s sister, five, and brother, four, died in the disaster.
Raghad’s mother, who was pregnant, was also killed.
Abu Hussam said: “The father is feared to have his back broken, his young daughter is fine.
“His pregnant wife, his five-year-old daughter and his four-year-old son have all been killed.”
Read more:
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‘I stopped in front of my sleeping children and I was waiting for our death’
Mohammed Hamza, programme officer for Islamic Relief, was in the Syrian city of Idlib when the 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck in the early hours of Monday.
He has described a feeling of helplessness as the walls moved around him inside his first-storey home – while his children slept nearby.
“I woke up around 4am with my building going right and left and right and left with the very, very strong earthquake,” Mr Hamza said.
“I just immediately went to my children’s room and stopped in front of them. I couldn’t do anything because the earthquake was very, very strong. I stopped in front of my sleeping children and I was waiting for our death, all of us.”
Mr Hamza said he was unable to move his family during the earthquake because the tremors were too strong, and his home was on the first floor.
He added that the first wave of the earthquake, which he said lasted around 40 seconds, “was like years”.
Once it had ended, the father left the building with his children and wife.
‘I was shaken like a baby in a crib’
A man living near the epicentre of this morning’s 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Turkey has described the moment it hit, saying he has “never felt anything like it”.
Erdem, who lives in the Turkish city of Gaziantep, said he was “shaken at least three times very strongly, like a baby in a crib”.
“It was still too dark to see the nature of the damage,” he told InCyprus.
“I have never felt anything like it in the 40 years I’ve lived.
“Everybody is sitting in their cars, or trying to drive to open spaces away from buildings,” he added.
“I imagine not a single person in Gaziantep is in their homes now.”
