By Nebal Snan

KUWAIT: Ameed Al-Samman is used to waking up to messages from his siblings and cousins on their family’s WhatsApp group. But the conversation on Monday morning was unlike any he’s ever seen — the comforting “good morning” the family exchanged was replaced with “Thank Allah you’re safe.”

A few seconds of scrolling later, Samman was shocked to hear that a 7.8-magnitude earthquake had struck Syria and Turkey, bringing down whole apartment buildings and leaving thousands injured or homeless. As of Thursday, over 17,000 people have died from the catastrophic earthquake. Many still remain missing. “I was so anxious to the point that I couldn’t work. I’d check on them every minute and ask them to keep me updated whatever happens,” he said. “My heart was there with them.”

‘They saw death’

At first, Samman didn’t expect the extent of the damage to be so huge, especially that smaller earthquakes have struck the region over the years. But that quickly changed as the day went by and news trickled in. Buildings in Hama, where his family lived, were destroyed. Syria’s Directorate-General for Antiquities and Museums (DGAM) reported on Facebook the destruction of some of the city’s historical buildings and mosques, such as the partial collapse of the minaret of the Imam Ismail Mosque. “My immediate family is safe, thanks to Allah.

But they’re very nervous and exhausted. They all say that they saw death with their own eyes.” Samman’s family evacuated their apartment and waited outside in the freezing cold, afraid the building might collapse. Rumors of aftershocks circulating on social media, he said, kept people on edge. “The rumors were so detailed, specifying the magnitude and time of the expected tremors. The situation was extremely nerve-wrecking and people unfortunately couldn’t help but believe everything they heard.”

Search ongoing

Hulya and her husband, a Turkish couple living in Kuwait, were on vacation in Turkey when the earthquake first hit on Monday. The couple wasn’t directly affected because they stayed far from the center of the earthquake, some of their family and friends, however, weren’t as fortunate. “They were so afraid … Some of them just took a few clothes and escaped from Kahramanmaras … and went to other cities.”

Others have passed away or are still missing. Turkey has deployed more than 63,000 search-and-rescue personnel to the quake area, including about 3,000 personnel who arrived from all over the world over the past couple of days, according to Turkish state-media TRT. But there are two main obstacles the teams are facing: the cold and snowy weather and the devastating aftermath, which led Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to declare a three-month state of emergency in the 10 quake-hit provinces.

Aid from about 20 countries, added Hulya, couldn’t reach some areas earlier this week “because of the destruction of the roads by earthquake.” Hatay, one of the hardest-hit cities, was rendered completely inaccessible, with the airport runway split into two. The Istanbul Airport operator IGA has dispatched teams to repair the runway and building in order restore traffic, reported the Daily Sabah Wednesday.

‘Disaster after disaster’

Rasha Mohamed was getting her daughter ready for school when she first heard the news. She immediately thought of her sister, who left Syria to live in Gaziantep with her husband and kids. One of southern Turkey’s major cities, Gaziantep has a population of almost two million people and between one-quarter and one-third of them are Syrian. “I really want to cry. My heart is crying,” said Mohamed.

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said the quake was an “absolute hammer blow” for displaced Syrians. Philippe Leclerc, UNHCR’s representative in Turkey, told AFP that most Syrians in Turkey are living among local populations “in the same buildings which have collapsed. They are participating in the rescue as volunteers.” Mohamed said her sister’s apartment was severely damaged. She joined thousands of others taking refuge in shelters set up by local authorities inside mosques.

Her husband, who was on a business trip in Istanbul, hasn’t been able to reunite with his family, yet. “The roads are dangerous and many are closed. It’s safer to stay in Istanbul and (my sister) doesn’t want to put his life at risk.” Mohamed is full of hope that the crisis “will encourage the world to speak up and help Syria so that the people, who have no fault in this, would be able to live.” “It’s been disaster after disaster. Those who passed away were barely surviving … from the war to the economic crisis that has only harmed the people.”