Gaziantep: Inside the city at the epicentre of Turkey's earthquake where time has stopped

In a special dispatch from the ground in Turkey, The National's Nada Maucourant Atallah says it feels like time is frozen in the city hard hit by Monday's quake

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  The brother of a survivor Gokhan Ugurlu, 35, who was pulled out of the rubble in Hatay, Turkey, reacts as a rescuer looks on. Reuters

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  A woman walks past flattened buildings in a street in Hatay province, Turkey. Reuters

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  A member of the army stands amid rubble in Kahramanmaras, Turkey. Reuters

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  A man reacts while sitting outside a tent of a temporary accommodation centre set up on a football pitch in Gaziantep, Turkey. Reuters

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  Earthquake survivors walk on a street in Hatay, Turkey. Reuters

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  A White Helmets volunteer holds a rescued cat in the rebel-held town of Jandaris, Syria. Reuters

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  A Syrian boy, who lost his family in the deadly earthquake, stands amid the rubble of his family home in Jindayris. AFP

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  Rescuers sit by a bonfire in Hatay, Turkey. AFP

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  A Turkish soldier walks among destroyed buildings in Hatay. AFP

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  Relatives of Palestinian doctor Yusuf Darabeh, who died when the earthquake hit Turkey, comfort each other. AP Photo

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  People stand by a collapsed building in Kahramanmaras, southern Turkey. AP Photo

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  A child, injured in the earthquake, is treated at hospital in Bab Al Hawah, Syria. AP Photo

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  Vehicles containing aid from Hashid Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces) on the Iraqi side of the Iraq-Syria border. Reuters

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  Rescuers carry Muhammed Alkanaas, 12, to an ambulance after five days under the rubble in Antakya, Turkey. AP

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  Romanian firefighters load a Turkey-bound train with emergency aid near Bucharest. AP

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  Collapsed buildings in Jandaris, Syria. Reuters

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  Abdulkerim Nano, 67, is rescued after five days under the rubble in in Kahramanmaras, Turkey

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  A Turkish rescue worker checks a collapsed building in Adiyaman. AP

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  Rescuers in Adiyaman, Turkey. AP

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  A resident in front of his collapsed building in the Elbistan district of Kahramanmaras. AFP

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  Syrian refugees shelter in a public market in the Islahiye district of Gaziantep, Turkey. AP

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  A family wait for the bodies of their relatives to be recovered in Antakya, Turkey. AP

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  A woman plays with a sniffer dog in Antakya, Turkey. AP

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  Collapsed buildings in Antakya, Turkey. AP

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  A Syrian woman takes care of her nephew Hasan Goayid, eight, in Islahiye district, Gaziantep. AP

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  A Syrian child in a tent in the Islahiye district. AP

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  Collapsed buildings in the Elbistan district of Kahramanmaras. AFP

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  Emirati rescuers sift through the rubble of a collapsed building in the regime-controlled town of Jableh, northwest of the Syrian capital. AFP

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  Volunteers at the Emirates Red Crescent 'Bridges of Goodness' campaign at the South Hall, Dubai Exhibition Centre at Expo City. Leslie Pableo for The National

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  Martin Griffiths, UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Co-ordinator, in Maras, Turkey. Reuters

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  Rescuers give water to a dog after a rescue operation in Hatay, southern Turkey. AP

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  A deadly earthquake struck southern Turkey and northern Syria on February 6. EPA

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  Fissures from the earthquake have crumpled the highway near Islahiyeh in Southern Turkey. Matt Kynaston / The National

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  A Kurdish charity's aid convoy enters Syria through the Bab Al Salama crossing with Turkey, in the northern province of Aleppo. AFP

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  A rescuer with a sniffer dog searches in a destroyed building in Antakya, southern Turkey. AFP

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  A makeshift camp erected in a stadium in the city of Kahramanmaras, southern Turkey. EPA

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  A woman mourns Turkish Cypriot victims of the earthquake, during a funeral procession in the Turkish occupied area in north-east coastal city of Famagusta, Cyprus. AP

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  Rescuers carry survivor Rabia Ofkeli, 27, from the rubble in Hatay, southern Turkey. Reuters

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  Syrian President Bashar Al Assad visits Aleppo university hospital. Reuters

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  Members of the Swiss rescue team with a four-month-old girl, Abir, who was pulled out from the rubble in Antakya. AFP

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  Survivors at a hospital in Kahramanmaras, Turkey. Reuters

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  Members of the White Helmets during the fifth day of rescue operations in Jandaris, Syria. Reuters

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  Indonesian Muslims perform a prayer for the victims at Istiqlal grand mosque in Jakarta. EPA

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  Emergency personnel conduct a rescue operation to save Melda, 16, from beneath the rubble of a collapsed building in Hatay, southern Turkey. AFP

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  The earthquake caused a railbed overpass to collapse in Nurdagi, Turkey. AFP

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  A framed picture on the cracked wall of a collapsed building in Kahramanmaras, south-eastern Turkey. EPA

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  A coastal area of Iskenderun, Turkey, was flooded after the quake. Reuters

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  A sheet of paper lies among the rubble in Elbistan. AP

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  Relief supplies destined for earthquake survivors in Turkey, at a warehouse in Schoenefeld, near Berlin, Germany. AP

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  Rescuers search for survivors in the rubble of collapsed buildings in Kahramanmaras, three days after the earthquake struck. AFP

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  Rescuers with a child pulled out from under the rubble. Reuters

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  Rescuers rest on top of rubble as an aircraft drops water over a fire at the port in the quake-stricken town of Iskenderun. Reuters

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  A rescue worker in Kahramanmaras, three days after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck south-east Turkey. AFP

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  People try to pull out a dog trapped beneath the rubble in Iskenderun, Turkey. Reuters

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  Lorries carrying humanitarian aid wait at Bab Al Hawa crossing on the Turkey-Syria border. Reuters

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  Syrians warm up by a fire outside a makeshift tent near the rebel-held town of Jindayris in Syria. AFP

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  A dam on the Orontes river in Syria's rebel-held Idlib province collapsed after the quake, flooding the neighbourhood. AFP

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  The sails of the Sydney Opera House lit with a black ribbon in remembrance and mourning of the earthquake victims. Getty

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  Smoke billows amid an expanse of collapsed and damaged buildings in Kahramanmaras, Turkey. Reuters

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  Dogs of the German International Search and Rescue team rest between operations in Kirikhan, Turkey. Reuters

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  White Helmets volunteers rescue a child trapped beneath the rubble in Jandaris, Syria. Reuters

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  People gather to collect food and humanitarian aid in the Elbistan district of Kahramanmaras, south-east Turkey. EPA

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  The statue of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of modern Turkey, is surrounded by damaged buildings in Adiyaman province. AP

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  A plane carrying humanitarian air sent for earthquake survivors lands in Damascus. Mahmoud Rida / The National

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  Motorway fractured by earthquake causes car crash near Kahramanmaras, Turkey. Matt Kynaston / The National

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  A tent camp has been set up at a stadium in south-eastern Turkish city of Kahramanmaras to shelter families whose homes were destroyed in the quake. AFP

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  A displaced Syrian woman rests under a tree in a field on the outskirts of the rebel-held town of Jindayris. AFP

Follow the latest news on the earthquake in Turkey and Syria

Amina Ahmad’s house still stands in Gaziantep, three days after the earthquake, but life inside is unbearable.

“We have no electricity, no water, and no heating,” she told The National from the southern city an hour from the epicentre of the disaster. “No one is helping us,” she added, with growing exasperation.

With night-time temperatures in Gaziantep falling to below freezing, many survivors of the 7.8-magnitude quake face a dilemma: freeze outdoors or stay in unsafe and barely habitable buildings which could crumble in dozens of aftershocks still rocking the region.

It is an overlooked repercussion of a catastrophe which has flattened at least 6,000 buildings in Turkey.

Thousands of structures are unsafe, especially with the ever-present risk of aftershocks — more than 600 of which have rattled the south since Monday morning.

Ms Ahmad is now seeking shelter in a hospital as the city’s mosques, schools and motorways are filled with survivors.

“We are staying at the hospital, we told them we’re sick, but it is real.”

Survivors said that water mains were broken, adding to the urgency of the aid effort. The gas flow was also interrupted in Gaziantep.

“We have been without water for three days”, said Eymen Hicazi, 38, a Syrian from Ghouta who has lived in Gaziantep since 2020. “We were told it’s because the infrastructure was damaged”.

Inhabitants are desperately trying to find alternatives. “We managed to get water from a well,” Mr Hicazi said. The city’s public fountains are surrounded by people trying to fill bottles.

“We cannot heat our houses,” he added. “Some of the houses are cut off from electricity.”

Worst earthquake for 10 years

Nearly 9,000 people have died in Turkey and tens of thousands have been wounded by the earthquake in Gaziantep, according to figures from AFAD, Turkey’s disaster and emergency authority. The disaster is now the world's worst earthquake since a 9.1 magnitude tremor and tsunami struck Japan in March 2011, killing nearly 20,000.

The combined death toll in Turkey and Syria now exceeds 11,000.

More than 900 buildings were damaged in the city of Gaziantep alone.

Tuesday afternoon’s aftershock was a huge quake in itself — registering at 7.6-magnitude — almost as strong as the first.

It toppled residential buildings and supermarkets, adding to the colossal rubble pile made more precarious by heavy rain and snow across the provinces, and shattered road networks.

A baby was pulled alive from the rubble in Gaziantep 55 hours after the quake, but hopes for survivors recede despite the best efforts of thousands of rescue workers.

Social media users continued to post pleas to help those trapped on Wednesday afternoon, sharing video footage of civilians sifting through the rubble.

One 11-year-old girl and her father remained under the rubble of their high-rise building, users said, posting the address to Twitter.

Elsewhere in the district, a six-months-pregnant woman and her family were trapped in the nearby town of Islahiye, which lies on the Syrian border.

Her friend appealed to social media users for help, saying they awaited a crane to move the debris.

“They made noise this morning but we can’t move the concrete with buckets.”

“They're waiting for a crane, they're still under the rubble. Please help.”

Villages destroyed

In the surrounding countryside, some villages have been wiped off the map, other Gaziantep residents told The National.

On Wednesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised that no citizens would be left on the streets in a visit to nearby Kahramanmaras, the epicentre of Monday morning’s quake.

But reaching that point will prove a huge challenge.

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  The Pool of Abraham and Rizvaniye Mosque in the city of Sanliurfa. Turkey's south-eastern cities are home to beautiful architecture. All photos: Getty

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  Mevlid-i Halil Camii mosque in Sanliurfa

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  The Asi river flowing through Hatay city centre

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  Habibi Neccar Mosque in Hatay

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  The city of Gaziantep

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  A market street in Gaziantep

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  The Haci Yusuf Mosque in Malatya

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  Views from Malatya City Centre in Eastern Anatolia

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  The inner yard of the Ulu Camii (The Great Mosque) in Diyarbakır

Driving into the city, The National witnessed roads torn and crumpled by the incredible force of the earthquake, making them impassible for all but the most rugged vehicles.

On a precarious journey, the road was pockmarked by huge holes. Some of the roads are destroyed, split into several blocks, making them totally impassable.

This has made the city difficult to access, leading to shortages of all kinds. People are queuing for bread and petrol. Most of the petrol stations are closed, fuel distribution is capped and station owners don’t know when they will receive a fresh supply.

Now that the main roads are being cleared, many of those who are able are choosing to leave the city. On Wednesday morning, the streets were almost empty, and all shops were closed.

It seems that life has been suspended in Gaziantep since the disaster.

Emergency camps

Others are not as lucky and have no choice but to stay. Even though the city has not been as badly hit as other areas in southern Turkey, many houses were destroyed or seriously damaged.

Makeshift camps have been set up. Ahmad Abdel Rahman, 34, and his friend Mustafa Abou Maatouk are staying in one of them, in a garden in front of a mosque in the city centre.

“We live in old houses, we suffered some damage and we are afraid to go back. We have not received any help, and we don’t know how long we are going to stay here,” they said.

Tent cities for the displaced are already being set up in several of the 10 affected provinces.

Just how large the exodus of survivors will be remains to be seen. In Hatay province, the displaced gathered at the city’s airport on Wednesday, hoping to take one of many Turkish Airlines evacuation flights away from the quake-hit provinces.

The airline has said it planned to evacuate 30,000 people on Wednesday and had moved almost 20,000 the day before.

Passengers at the airport were told it was at capacity, struggling with the influx of rescue teams and hazardous weather.

There are only limited flights out for civilians, said Pegasus, Turkey’s low-cost airliner.