At a camp for displaced people inside the municipal stadium in downtown Gaziantep, in southeast Turkey, families devastated by this week’s magnitude 7.8 earthquake say they are struggling to survive. In a camp set up by Turkey’s disaster relief arm, and in makeshift settlements in the fields around it, survivors of the quake say they do not have enough food, water, heating or basic amenities to keep themselves alive.
“There’s nothing for us here to eat,” says a soldier in his mid-20s named Faris, who fled from the hard-hit city of Antakya. “There’s no gas, no heating system, no electricity. We don’t have money or any of our cards.”
He asks to be identified only by his first name because he is still an active member of the Turkish military and risks punishment if he criticizes the government.
The regions affected by Monday’s earthquake are home to an estimated 13.5 million people, including as many as 2 million refugees, primarily from Syria. The earthquake has killed more than 25,000 in Turkey and Syria, according to The Associated Press, and tens of thousands have been injured.
Tens of thousands of buildings have been destroyed. Many residents of the hardest-hit areas, including Antakya and the satellite villages around Gaziantep, have fled to areas like Gaziantep’s city center that remain comparatively unscathed.
While an estimated 200,000 people remain trapped under rubble, many of those who have survived are struggling to meet their basic needs.
