ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Now for a narrative from a survivor in Turkey – somebody who can describe what it is like when the partitions actually come down round you. The earthquake that killed tens of 1000’s in Turkey and Syria was particularly lethal as a result of it occurred when most individuals had been asleep. NPR’s Daniel Estrin in southern Turkey met one of many fortunate ones who made it out.

DANIEL ESTRIN, BYLINE: Ali Kafadenk was sleeping in mattress along with his spouse, Merve, when their six-story house constructing began to shake. We met him on the street exterior a mountain of rubble.

ALI KAFADENK: (Talking Turkish).

ESTRIN: He says his spouse poked him and woke him up, saying there was an earthquake. He stated, no, it will cross. Then two reverse partitions caved in, making kind of a concrete tent over their mattress. It was so low they could not sit up. He spoke to my interpreter.

KAFADENK: (By way of interpreter) We had been caught below the partitions, some – with a form of, like, an upside-down V. And that is what protected us.

ESTRIN: What had been you considering once you had been caught in that small area?

KAFADENK: (By way of interpreter) We thought that we might die. That was the one possibility we thought. We thought, like, any minute, there’s going to be one thing that is going to come back crashing down on our heads and that is going to be the tip.

ESTRIN: That is a method a number of individuals did survive the earthquake, a Turkish emergency response group advised us, a wall tipping on to one thing and leaving a small triangle void for somebody to outlive in. The chilly climate additionally helped. Survivors did not sweat as a lot, which delayed dehydration.

KAFADENK: (Talking Turkish).

ESTRIN: Kafadenk and his spouse, Merve, had been solely there an hour and a half. Nevertheless it was terrifying and claustrophobic. He threw himself over his spouse to guard her. They usually cried collectively and prayed collectively.

KAFADENK: (By way of interpreter) We had been saying to one another that we got here from God. We are going to return to God.

ESTRIN: Then he heard his constructing sink and the earth transfer.

KAFADENK: (By way of interpreter) It was a sound that I might by no means heard earlier than. It feels prefer it’s a supernatural sound. It was one thing like actually robust and loud and low thunder. It is one thing just like the sound that we hear within the sci-fi motion pictures.

ESTRIN: The constructing was nonetheless shifting and crumbling. Flooring above them fell into the road. In some way, there was a gap. It was too dusty to see. He felt it – snowy, chilly air. And that’s when he heard his neighbors’ screams. My child’s caught right here. My leg is caught there. My mother is below right here, and my dad’s over there.

KAFADENK: (Talking Turkish).

ESTRIN: Kafadenk and his spouse additionally shouted. And that’s when somebody pulled them out. Another person gave him a pair of footwear. Now Kafadenk is staying with household out of city. He is again right here for the primary time because the earthquake.

KAFADENK: (Talking Turkish).

ESTRIN: He says, “seeing it, it looks like I am residing by way of all of it once more. I am feeling worry, disappointment and loss.” He says solely two different individuals within the constructing survived, out of dozens. He and his spouse are schoolteachers, and so they cannot attain their colleagues. He thinks they’ve died. One of many few issues he might recuperate from the constructing had been letters of appreciation from his college students. He wonders what number of of them survived. Daniel Estrin, NPR Information, Islahiye, Turkey.

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