In the earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaraş, which occurred on February 6 with an interval of nine hours, nearly 50 thousand of our citizens were lost in 11 provinces, and 107 thousand of our citizens were injured.
Some of our citizens who were rescued from these earthquakes will spend the rest of their lives as disabled. Psychological and physical rehabilitation should be started quickly. While the wounds of the earthquake are being healed, it is important that these disabled citizens are dealt with without delay, their medical interventions are completed and their orthoses, prostheses and other needs are met as soon as possible.
It is very important for our disabled children and young people to be directed to sports following their treatment is completed, in terms of their physical and psychological rehabilitation. Sports is the fastest and most effective rehabilitation tool for the rehabilitation of the disabled. It will be possible for them to get away from the disaster they have experienced and regain their self-confidence through sports. We have many athletes who were disabled in previous earthquakes but were very successful in different branches.
In order for the Ministry of Youth and Sports to focus on this issue, to reach these disabled citizens with the relevant federations and not to be upset with life, it should be explained what the disabled athletes in similar situations can achieve and how they overcome the obstacles. It should be shown that they have sports branches that they can deal with.
Another issue is that our sports clubs should be provided with monthly financial support for each disabled athlete so that our children and youth, who were disabled during and before the earthquake, can benefit from the branches in sports clubs. Because these clubs, like private education institutions, provide rehabilitation services to our disabled citizens. In this way, our sports clubs will reach and train more disabled athletes.
We should not forget our children who were orphaned as a result of the earthquake. The following statement of Selçuk Pehlivanoğlu, President of the Turkish Education Association (TED), is very important. “During the earthquake, orphaned children do not have parents to hold their hands, both hands are free. If you don’t hold it, others will.” This meaningful word needs to be analyzed well. For this, it is very important to support the education campaign they have started.
We have seen once more in Kahramanmaraş and our other ten provinces affected by the earthquakes that we did not learn from. Not only our eleven provinces, but as a whole country, we were destroyed with pain. I hope we learn a lesson this time and never experience this kind of pain once more.
