Antakya: The woman covered with a handkerchief could not control her anger.
Selva was convinced that dozens of her loved ones were buried under the rubble of Turkey’s devastating earthquake.
“But the rescuers are gone,” Selva cried beside one of the many bonfires protecting survivors from the bitter cold.
The 48-year-old woman watched as Turkish and international teams excavated the remains of her building in Turkey’s ruined Syrian border city of Antakya.
Each one of them gave up before finding their relatives.
Hearing Selva’s screams, retired soldier Cengiz said, “The teams that came here clearly told us that they are looking for survivors.”
“They worked for two days without finding anyone,” said the man.
Rescuers moved on to other mountains of rubble that were once buildings – but now look like mass graves.
“We understand they need to look for survivors first,” his neighbor Hussain interjected.
“But we have the right to retrieve the remains of our loved one.”
The three preferred not to give their full names to AFP because of the political sensitivity of the criticism of the search and rescue operation.
The task facing Turkey in the wake of the deadliest disaster of modern times is hard to overestimate.
Last week’s magnitude 7.8 earthquake killed nearly 40,000 people and destroyed entire towns and cities in the country’s southeast and parts of Syria.
Rescuers battled constant aftershocks as they dug their way through the rubble looking for signs of life.
Several more people were pulled alive on Tuesday, more than 200 hours after the initial shock.
But rescuers have been forced to give up at many places. There is simply too much debris and not enough resources to drill through tons of concrete.
president of turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan Has tried to calm the anger by visiting some of the disaster sites and regularly addressing the nation on TV.
But the message isn’t getting through in towns like Antakya – largely without electricity and lacking basic amenities like water and toilets.
In Kahramanmaras, near the epicenter, an angry woman accused rescuers of abandoning a mother, her newborn baby and another relative.
The woman, who declined to be named for fear of retribution, said, “They gave us hope by telling us that the child and the mother were alive.”
“They said they’d get them out. But today, there’s nobody here!” she cried.
Yet Erdogan does not get all the blame.
Earthquake Turkey’s last national election in 2018 struck an area in which the veteran leader had strong support.
Erdogan was planning to try to extend his rule to a third decade in an election scheduled for May 14. His government has not yet given any clear indication about delaying the vote.
Selva said she still supports Erdogan – despite all the pain.
“He’s still done a lot for us,” he said.
The grieving men and women around him largely agreed with that view.
But there were also frequent – but anonymous – voices of bitter discontent.
“We have reached a point where we can be happy to find only corpses,” said a civil servant who requested anonymity for fear of losing his job.
He had lost his brother and sister-in-law in the earthquake.
“We are so desperate that the only hope we have is to find the bodies,” she said.
Selva was convinced that dozens of her loved ones were buried under the rubble of Turkey’s devastating earthquake.
“But the rescuers are gone,” Selva cried beside one of the many bonfires protecting survivors from the bitter cold.
The 48-year-old woman watched as Turkish and international teams excavated the remains of her building in Turkey’s ruined Syrian border city of Antakya.
Each one of them gave up before finding their relatives.
Hearing Selva’s screams, retired soldier Cengiz said, “The teams that came here clearly told us that they are looking for survivors.”
“They worked for two days without finding anyone,” said the man.
Rescuers moved on to other mountains of rubble that were once buildings – but now look like mass graves.
“We understand they need to look for survivors first,” his neighbor Hussain interjected.
“But we have the right to retrieve the remains of our loved one.”
The three preferred not to give their full names to AFP because of the political sensitivity of the criticism of the search and rescue operation.
The task facing Turkey in the wake of the deadliest disaster of modern times is hard to overestimate.
Last week’s magnitude 7.8 earthquake killed nearly 40,000 people and destroyed entire towns and cities in the country’s southeast and parts of Syria.
Rescuers battled constant aftershocks as they dug their way through the rubble looking for signs of life.
Several more people were pulled alive on Tuesday, more than 200 hours after the initial shock.
But rescuers have been forced to give up at many places. There is simply too much debris and not enough resources to drill through tons of concrete.
president of turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan Has tried to calm the anger by visiting some of the disaster sites and regularly addressing the nation on TV.
But the message isn’t getting through in towns like Antakya – largely without electricity and lacking basic amenities like water and toilets.
In Kahramanmaras, near the epicenter, an angry woman accused rescuers of abandoning a mother, her newborn baby and another relative.
The woman, who declined to be named for fear of retribution, said, “They gave us hope by telling us that the child and the mother were alive.”
“They said they’d get them out. But today, there’s nobody here!” she cried.
Yet Erdogan does not get all the blame.
Earthquake Turkey’s last national election in 2018 struck an area in which the veteran leader had strong support.
Erdogan was planning to try to extend his rule to a third decade in an election scheduled for May 14. His government has not yet given any clear indication about delaying the vote.
Selva said she still supports Erdogan – despite all the pain.
“He’s still done a lot for us,” he said.
The grieving men and women around him largely agreed with that view.
But there were also frequent – but anonymous – voices of bitter discontent.
“We have reached a point where we can be happy to find only corpses,” said a civil servant who requested anonymity for fear of losing his job.
He had lost his brother and sister-in-law in the earthquake.
“We are so desperate that the only hope we have is to find the bodies,” she said.