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Turkey Earthquake
FCF Project: Family Educational Services We were jolted out of a sound sleep at 3:00 am Tuesday morning, the 17th of August, 1999. The doors to our bedrooms were knocking, but we soon realized it was more than our doors…our walls were knocking as well. Soon the stairs were shaking and heaving… This was the longest 45 seconds that we have lived through! At that moment, none of us had any idea of just how much damage or destruction had occurred in those 45 seconds. American scientists estimated that the power unleashed in the Istanbul area was about 400 times the strength of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined! One of our neighbors works for a major TV channel, so we were advised of the latest breaking stories. Within hours we were in touch with other friends and contacts and involved in coordinating efforts to get food and donated materials to the neediest areas. One team accompanied our neighbor by boat to Yalova, a city 80 miles from Istanbul, which was badly hit. We were able to distribute shovels, gloves, medical supplies, plastic bags, and water. As we were helping the Austrian Red Cross unload their trucks and get set up, a strong secondary tremor rumbled through the camp.
None of us had ever been in a war zone, but this is what this entire area looked like. This turned out to be the “quake of the century,” with unofficial reports as high as 40,000 dead, and hundreds of thousands homeless (many of whom are still living in tent cities). Returning to Istanbul at 11:00 that first night, we found incredible traffic jams throughout the city, as people were fleeing from congested city centers to areas that were deemed safe. The next day a team was sent to scout out Golcuk, one of the worst hit areas. Army and police were everywhere, all wearing surgical masks as the smell of death was ever-present. Every time we heard an ambulance, it was good news, meaning someone was found alive! There at the quake’s epicenter, we passed on food, medicine, and clothing, spending hours trying to encourage and help those in makeshift tents to get a measure of their life back together. Meanwhile, those at our home base sent out appeals for relief supplies and collected truckloads of blankets, sheets, clothing, plastic wear, school supplies, and toys, as well as fresh fruit, vegetables, and other food stuffs. The response to us as Turkish-speaking foreigners was overwhelming. The army and management of this makeshift camp begged us to stay on and help, and thus we did, judging the need was greatest at this location. We spent the next five weeks residing in the tent camp, working side by side with the Belgian Red Cross and the Turkish military. To help lift the spirits of the people in the camp, we performed live music as well as puppet and clown shows for the children. We also organized games. Even when our hard day’s work was done and we attempted to lie down for the night in our tent, there was a constant flow of visitors late into the night seeking solace and hope. We became known as “one of the longest staying foreign groups in the Tent City.”
“Each day felt like a week” said one FES volunteer. “Every moment that we weren’t busy with physical work, we spent with survivors, listening to their stories of personal tragedy, offering a comforting hand, and just being there for them.” Our Family Educational Services team continued active follow up at the Golcuk tent city into the Fall, when a second major earthquake struck, measuring 7.2! This then re-involved us in relief work in a new area of Turkey where we were called on to apply our practical and efficient methods of organization and coordination we had developed in the months previous.
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