A middle-aged man in a village within the Elbistan district of Kahramanmaraş, the epicenter of the second earthquake that occurred final Monday, shared he was left within the wreckage along with his household within the quake’s aftermath and that he misplaced round 300 animals owing to a barn collapse.
The 50-year-old Erdoğan Özgen, who made a residing from animal husbandry, mentioned he had safely transferred his spouse and youngsters to his kinfolk in Istanbul after they had been evacuated from the rubble however he determined to not go away his village due to his animals. “How can I go, we reared them just like our children. I can’t leave them,” Özgen mentioned.
Özgen, who got here out of the wreckage with minor accidents rescued his kids, spouse, nephews, aunt and mom on his personal. Unfortunately, he couldn’t save all his animals from the barn particles. “At the time of the primary earthquake, we left our home and gathered outdoors. A beam of sunshine got here out from behind the mountain. We entered the homes assuming nothing would occur. The second earthquake destroyed us, it swept us away,” Özgen lamented.
”Such a catastrophe has devastated us. I used to be alone within the wreckage and obtained my youngsters out safely. I’ve a minor fracture on my rib that wants medical remedy, however thank goodness there isn’t any dying. Unfortunately, our animals are nonetheless inside. There is nobody left within the village, they’ve all migrated,” he narrated his ordeal.
Özgen mentioned that they wished tents for use as barns for animals within the village with a inhabitants of about 400, the place 70% of the homes had been destroyed. “We cannot feed the animals, we are in a very difficult situation.” Mentioning that the rescue staff had supplied him with meals, Özgen shared that he couldn’t go away his livestock behind at any value.
Role of animals in quake zone
Animals, who as people had been equally affected by the dual quakes that struck southeastern Türkiye, had been left down and out. However, some animals equivalent to canine and cats proved to be the heroes saving human lives prior to now 9 days.
One of the households whose home was destroyed by the earthquake in Hatay is the Genco household of three. During their interview with Anadolu Agency (AA), the household described how they reached the security zone with the assistance of their canine. Ayşe Genco described the daybreak when the earthquake occurred, their canine led them towards the backyard gate after he was unleashed from her son’s hand.
The canine additionally led the staff of rescuers, from Antalya’s Konyaaltı Municipality, which had misplaced its manner whereas bringing support to the Göksun district of Kahramanmaraş over the weekend. The video of the canine speeding up the hill went viral over social media in Türkiye.
A bunch of three canine, that had been a part of the South Korean rescue staff, and had been proper on the sector whereas having injured paws additionally garnered consideration with heaps of reward as they demonstrated how the position of animals in catastrophic occasions equivalent to earthquakes can by no means be neglected.
The pleasure and glee introduced by the news of cat rescues as soon as once more reaffirmed the love and affection of the Turkish nation for animals. People rescued from the rubble hours after the earthquake had been seen asking for his or her pets and urged the rescue staff to save lots of them as quickly as attainable.
In Osmaniye, a cat was rescued from the seventh flooring of the broken condo on Monday and was instantly taken for medical remedy via mutual efforts of the gendarmerie and Animal Search and Rescue Association (HAK-TIM) groups.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
