The devastating earthquake that struck nearly 11 regions in Turkey killed over 40,402 people and left millions homeless in frigid weather. The structures were crushed to rubble, severing a little community called Demirkopru in two.
The little, grey house in southern Turkey that originally looked out into the road may appear unaffected by last week’s massive earthquake, but it is now one floor lower.
Demirkopru village, home to 1,000 people, is surrounded by trash floating in murky water, shattered pavements, and crooked houses.
Demirkopru was split in two by the February 6 earthquake and its aftershocks, which devastated large swaths of Turkey and Syria and killed over 46,000 people.
“The houses plummeted four metres (13 feet),” said Mahir Karatas, the grey house’s 42-year-old owner. “The ground rose and fell.”
A half-dozen buildings near Karatas’ residence appear to have been destroyed by God’s anger. A black and white cow’s body gets caught in crusted mud within what remains of a farm shed.
Despite the severe destruction, no one was killed or injured in Demirkopru.
Rescue efforts in Hatay province have mostly concentrated on Antakya, an old city blown apart by the earthquake 20 kilometres (12.5 miles) from Demirkopru.
Residents reported that during the tremor, water rose from below ground and stalled.
The ornately paved road is no longer there. Some parts of the structure are now a metre higher than others.
“It became like an island here,” Murat Yar, a 38-year-old roofer, explained.
“It went up, down, up, down, and then plunged 30 metres down. We noticed water and sand streaming out “He continued, his hands mimicking the tremor’s waves.
‘I’m really scared.’
Residents could “leap out of the windows of their one and two-story dwellings,” according to Yar, in contrast to Antakya, where residents resided in multi-story buildings.
When the earthquake struck, the locals fled to a safe location specified by officials in case of further earthquakes. But it was so powerful that even that cracked.
A huge chasm zigzags in front of a school whose gate was thrown 20 metres away, yet no damage to the building’s exterior is visible.
Four buildings from another school appear to be stacked on top of a big mud mound further distant.
“I told myself, ‘we’re dead, we’re done,'” Yar said.
Hatice Sahan, 58, a headscarf-wearing woman, described exactly how everyone felt on February 6: “We were terrified.”
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