Quakes split village in two

HATAY

The Feb. 6’s quakes have split Demirköprü village in Hatay in two as a small house that once looked out onto the road might appear untouched by last week’s huge earthquake, but it is now one floor lower.

Surrounding the building in Demirköprü village, home to 1,000 people, are bits of debris floating in murky water, broken pavements and lopsided houses.

The Feb. 6 earthquakes and its aftershocks have split Demirköprü in two.

“The houses sank four meters,” said Mahir Karataş, a 42-year-old farmer and owner of the grey house.

“The ground went up and down.”

Fortunately, no one died in Demirköprü despite the heavy damage, but some were injured.

Rescue efforts in Hatay province have largely focused on Antakya, an ancient city that has been torn apart by the quake, 20 kilometers away from Demirköprü.

During the tremor, water rose from below ground then stagnated, residents said.

The ornately paved road no longer exists. Some bits are now a meter higher than others.

“Here, it became like an island,” said Murat Yar, a 38-year-old roofer.

Residents could “jump out from the windows of their one and two-story homes,” Yar said.

In front of a school whose gate was thrown 20 meters away is a yawning gap that zig zags but no damage is visible on the building’s facade.

Further away four buildings belonging to another school appear like dominoes piled on top of a large earthen mound.

“I told myself, ‘we’re dead, we’re finished’,” Yar said.