Woman describes trauma after 72 members of her family killed in Turkey-Syria earthquake
“I will never be able to forget what happened – I can still feel the earth shaking,” says Rana Bitar, her voice catching in her throat.
The charity boss says she lost 72 members of her extended family in the devastating earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria last year.
“I felt terror, fear and worry,” she tells Sky News, appearing close to tears as she recalls the moment the 7.8-magnitude quake hit the region, killing tens of thousands of people.
“At first, I did not know what was happening. I thought it was a war, that we were being bombed. I heard the sounds of explosions.”
At the time, Ms Bitar was alone at home with her two-and-a-half-year-old son in Gaziantep in Turkey, close to the epicentre.
As her flat shook, she picked up the toddler and rushed down seven flights of stairs and out into the “extremely cold weather” and snow. They were dressed in pyjamas and Ms Bitar was walking barefoot.
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February 2023: Drone footage shows devastation in Antakya
“It was horrible,” she says. “I was only thinking about my child, my parents, my family members.
“I recalled my whole life. I called my mother in Belgium and told her: ‘If something happens to me, I just wanted to say goodbye.'”
Ms Bitar, her husband and their son spent the next eight days living in their car and a nearby mosque.
At first, they did not know what had happened or how much death and destruction the earthquake had caused.
After learning the extent of the disaster on the news and discovering she had lost family, friends and colleagues, Ms Bitar says she had a nervous breakdown.
The 72 members of her extended family who died were related to her from her father’s side, she says. They had fled together from Latakia in Syria to Hatay in Turkey, which was the hardest-hit province.
Homes were destroyed in Antakya in Turkey’s Hatay province. Pic: AP
Whole families were wiped out, including Ms Bitar’s uncle and aunt and their children and grandchildren, she says. The youngest relative to die was five, while the oldest was 79.
“Losing so many loved ones and relatives was very sad and painful. I cried a lot,” she says. “I cannot explain the fear I have felt since the day of the earthquake.
“A few days ago I was having lunch with my husband and he started shaking his leg – I was terrified and asked him whether another earthquake was happening.”
Hidden health problems
More than a year since the earthquake struck on 6 February 2023, many survivors are struggling with the trauma of losing loved ones and suffering from hidden health problems.
The earthquake killed more than 50,000 people in Turkey and some 5,900 people in Syria, while leaving millions homeless.
Hatay in Turkey was the hardest-hit province. Pic: AP
As well as physical injuries sustained in the disaster, survivors have suffered psychological problems, including insomnia and eating disorders, according to Madara Hettiarachchi, director of programmes at the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC).
She says there was a noticeable increase in psychological issues as the anniversary approached, telling Sky News: “The aftershocks don’t help and being cloistered in container camps is a double whammy.”
Many survivors found themselves breaking down into tears, Ms Hettiarachchi says, adding: “There was a lot of crying, a lot of feeling fragile.
“Some people thought they had moved on. One woman said, ‘I thought I was strong, I thought I was coping okay, but I feel really emotional and like it’s going backwards’.”
‘Easy for diseases to spread’
More than three million people were displaced by the earthquake, which flattened towns and caused widespread destruction in cities, leaving many who lost their homes living in temporary accommodation while struggling to find new places to live.
The DEC says some 787,000 people are still living in shelters, flimsy tents and so-called container cities in Turkey, as of December last year, where they are at greater risk of respiratory illnesses and seasonal flu, as well as scabies, lice and cholera.
A child in Antakya in Hatay, Turkey, in January. Pic: AP
Many displaced people live in containers. Pic: Reuters
“They’re small crowded spaces with very limited water and sanitation, so it’s easy for diseases to spread,” warns Ms Hettiarachchi. She says aid agencies have been focused on promoting hygiene and offering disaster relief such as hygiene kits, which include bathing soap, laundry soap, toothbrushes and sanitary pads.
Some 15 million people in Syria were already in need of humanitarian assistance before the disaster struck, with damage to pipes and water tanks increasing the risk of waterborne diseases such as cholera and dysentery.
Several relief workers say there has been an increase in miscarriages and early births after the earthquake, while some mothers had trouble breastfeeding.
A tent camp in the rebel-held Syrian town of Jandaris. Pic: Reuters
“Earthquakes and other disasters have a profound impact on the stress levels not only within communities but particularly among pregnant women,” Ozlem Kudret Cokmez, a sexual and reproductive health counsellor at Doctors Of The World Turkey, tells Sky News.
“Pregnancy and childbirth, already stress-inducing on their own, become even more challenging when coupled with factors like the degree of exposure to earthquakes, the loss of relatives, family breakdown, or relocation to new environments.”
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Rise in gender-based violence
Ms Cokmez says there have been increases in gender-based violence, including domestic abuse and sexual assault, as well as early marriages and child labour, amid unemployment, limited access to basic needs, mental health issues and trauma.
In response to such risks, charities like Space Of Peace – the organisation led by Ms Bitar – have been offering safe spaces and psychological and social support to women, as well as offering workshops for them to learn English and other skills to help them find jobs amid the worsening economic situation.
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Syrian refugees – having fled nearly 13 years of civil war to Turkey – saw the earthquake heap further misery upon their plight. “These people lost their homes many times,” Ms Bitar says. “First when they went from Syria to Turkey, then again after the earthquake. They are struggling on so many levels.”
As well as the psychological damage of the disaster, around 70% of the 118,000 people injured in the earthquake have long-term rehabilitation issues, according to the World Health Organisation. In response, charities have been providing physical therapy, wheelchairs and crutches.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has pledged to provide 200,000 homes across the area affected by the earthquake by the end of the year.
Ms Hettiarachchi believes there is some cause for optimism, saying: “Hearing stories both from aid workers as well as people who have benefited from humanitarian assistance, there is some sort of relief, there is progress.”
But she adds: “It’s worth remembering the scale of it. Any response, either by the government or by humanitarian agencies, pales by comparison. It just feels like we’re scratching the surface.”
At least 20 people have died after a magnitude 6.3 earthquake in Afghanistan, the Taliban has said.
The tremor was recorded near the city of Mazar-e Sharif, in the northern Balkh province, at around 12.59am on Monday (8.29pm in the UK).
The Taliban Health Ministry added that 320 were injured, while ministry spokesperson Sharfat Zaman said that the numbers of dead and injured might rise.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) has issued an orange alert on its system of quake impacts, and suggested that “significant casualties are likely and the disaster is potentially widespread”.
A rescuer works following an earthquake at an unidentified location in Afghanistan. Pic: Afghan Red Crescent / Reuters
Previous events at that alert level have required a regional or national level response, according to the USGS’s alert system.
Balkh province spokesperson Haji Zaid added that the earthquake destroyed part of the city’s holy shrine, known as the Blue Mosque.
Soldiers dig up debris after an earthquake in Mazar-e Sharif, northern Afghanistan. Pic: Haji Zaid
Damage to the Blue Mosque in Mazar-e Sharif. Pic: Haji Zaid
The United Nations in Afghanistan said on X that it is on the ground assessing needs and delivering aid, and that: “We stand with the affected communities and will provide the necessary support.”
Mazar-e Sharif is the fifth-largest city in Afghanistan, with a population of around 523,000.
Located on two major active fault lines, Afghanistan is particularly vulnerable to earthquakes: More than 1,400 people were killed and at least 3,250 others injured after a magnitude 6.0 earthquake hit the country’s eastern regions in September.
That tremor wiped out villages in the Mazar Dara valley, which Sky’s Asia correspondent Cordelia Lynch visited in October.
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In 2015, an earthquake struck northeastern Afghanistan, killing several hundred people in Afghanistan and nearby northern Pakistan.
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Four large earthquakes also struck in the Herat province in 2023, each magnitude 6.3. The Taliban said at the time that at least 2,445 people had died.
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A total of 28 people have died following Hurricane Melissa’s rampage across Jamaica, the government has confirmed.
Melissa, one of the strongest storms on record to make landfall in the Caribbean, brought with it winds of up to 185mph when it hit the island earlier this week.
The Red Cross described it as a “disaster of unprecedented catastrophe”.
Melissa ravaged through Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba.
It weakened by the time it reached Cuba on Wednesday morning but still brought devastation – with houses collapsed and roads blocked.
A statement from the government of Jamaica said it was “deeply saddened to confirm 28 fatalities associated with the passage of Hurricane Melissa”.
It went on: “We extend heartfelt condolences to the families, friends, and communities mourning their loved ones.”
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The confirmation came as the first British repatriation flight was setting off from the island on Saturday evening local time.
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The flight, chartered by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, was for those “unable to leave Jamaica on commercial routes”.
Essential relief supplies are now rolling into some of the hardest hit areas.
Humanitarian aid has arrived and is waiting to be distributed. Pic: AP
The UK government is mobilising an additional £5m in emergency humanitarian funding – on top of £2.5m announced earlier this week – to support the region’s recovery.
This new funding will enable the UK to send humanitarian supplies – including more than 3,000 shelter kits and over 1,500 solar-powered lanterns to help those whose homes have been damaged and those without power.
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Jamaica victims left shell-shocked
The UK is working with the World Food Programme and Red Cross, to ensure emergency relief reaches those who need it most.
At least 25 people died in the southern Haitian coastal town of Petit-Goave after the La Digue river burst its banks as a result of the hurricane, according to the town’s mayor Jean Bertrand Subreme.
Ukrainian soldiers encircled by Russian forces in the key eastern city of Pokrovsk have started surrendering, the defence ministry in Moscow claims.
But Ukraine‘s military has pushed back on the report by the TASS state news agency, saying the situation is “difficult and dynamic”.
Kyiv has also claimed its positions in some districts of Pokrovsk have improved despite its city being infiltrated by Russian troops.
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Ukraine is increasing its number of assault troops in the area, the 7th Rapid Response Corps said on Facebook.
And Ukrainian troops are also working to cut Moscow’s military logistics routes, it added.
The Russian defence ministry also said its forces defeated a team of Ukrainian special forces that headed to Pokrovsk in a bid to prevent Russian forces from advancing further into the city.
‘Footage of Ukrainian troops after surrendering’
It later posted videos of two Ukrainian troops who, it claimed, had surrendered.
The footage showed the men, one dressed in fatigues and the other in a dark green jacket, sat against a wall in a dark room, as they spoke of fierce fighting and encirclement by Russian forces.
The videos’ authenticity could not be independently verified, and there was no immediate public comment from Kyiv on the Russian ministry’s claims.
Ukrainian police officers on patrol in Pokrovsk. File pic: Reuters
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has previously acknowledged that some Russian units had infiltrated the city. But he maintained that Ukraine is tackling them.
He said Russia had deployed 170,000 troops in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk province, where Pokrovsk is located, in a major offensive to capture the city and claim a big battlefield victory.
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‘Operation to destroy enemy forces’
Ukraine’s army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Saturday the situation in Pokrovsk remained “hardest” for Ukrainian forces, who were trying to push Russian troops out.
But he insisted there was no encirclement or blockade as Moscow has claimed.
“A comprehensive operation to destroy and push out enemy forces from Pokrovsk is ongoing. The main burden lies on the shoulders of the units of the armed forces of Ukraine, particularly UAV operators and assault units,” Mr Syrskyi said.
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Why is Pokrovsk important?
One of Moscow’s key aims has been to take all of Ukraine’s industrial heartland of coal-rich Donbas, which comprises of the Luhansk and Donetsk provinces. Kyiv still controls about 10% of Donbas.
Capturing Pokrovsk, which Russian media has dubbed “the gateway to Donetsk”, and Kostiantynivka to its northeast, would give Moscow a platform to drive north towards the two biggest remaining Ukrainian-controlled cities in Donetsk – Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.
‘Key Russian fuel pipeline struck’
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military intelligence, known as HUR, has said its forces have hit an important fuel pipeline in the Moscow region that supplies the Russian army.
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In a statement on Telegram, HUR said the operation late on Friday was a “serious blow” to Russia’s military logistics.
HUR said its forces struck the Koltsevoy pipeline, which is 250 miles long and supplies the Russian army with gasoline, diesel and jet fuel from refineries in Ryazan, Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow.
The operation, which targeted infrastructure near Ramensky district, destroyed all three fuel lines, HUR said.
The pipeline was capable of transporting up to three million tonnes of jet fuel, 2.8 million tonnes of diesel and 1.6 million tonnes of gasoline annually, HUR said.
Russia ‘targets gas production site’
Also overnight, Russia launched an attack on a gas production site in Poltava, in central Ukraine.
A fire broke out, the local administration said, but no injuries were reported.
Kyiv condemns ‘nuclear terrorism’
Ukraine’s foreign ministry has condemned Russian strikes this week on substations powering some of its nuclear plants.
It accused Russia of carrying out “targeted strikes on such substations” which “bear the hallmarks of nuclear terrorism”.
Elsewhere, a civilian died and 15 more were injured on Saturday morning after Russia struck the Mykolaiv region in southern Ukraine with a ballistic Iskander missile, local official Vitaliy Kim said.
A child was among those hurt in the strike, he added.
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