This mayhem! This disaster! And this anger that rises, gnaws and adds hatred to the infinite sadness. Beautiful Antakya is nothing but dust and ashes, rubbish and stench, pain, resentment. “We can do nothing once morest nature, said Cemal, a biology professor who arrived from Ankara the day following the earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on Monday February 6, to search for his son in the rubble of what he believed to be the most luxurious and safe from the city. The earth has its moods, its movements, it escapes us and that’s normal. On the other hand, it can be protected by adequate laws, strictly applied. Our government, alas, puts electoralism and looting ahead of integrity. I hold him responsible for this calamity. »
He stands straight, legs apart, hands in his pockets, facing the ruins of the residence, a horizontal bar of twelve floors, two hundred and fifty apartments, nearly a thousand inhabitants. A luxury building, built just ten years ago, with reception hall, private parking, swimming pool, kindergarten, and a flamboyant name: Rönesans (Renaissance). “A corner of paradise”boasted the ad, emphasizing its anti-seismic performance. “What a scam! », drop the teacher. “Our researchers, engineers, seismographs have learned from past earthquakes. We created new construction standards, they were flouted. We voted laws to condemn the crooked builders, we granted them amnesty. Well here is the result! »
He talks loudly. And that seems a relief to all those around him, who dare not express themselves, and swallow their anger. Finally the truth! They so need a spokesperson, they who have lost parents, children, brothers, sisters, friends, in this broken building. Like Cemal, the professor, they had spent the previous five or six nights in their car, or under the olive trees in a small nearby garden, by zero degrees, without water, without electricity, without sanitary facilities. And, like him, they will not be able to bring themselves to leave until they have received news from their loved ones.
” Where are they ? »
Nearly one hundred and fifty people escaped from the ruins, regarding fifty bodies were found, what regarding the other eight hundred? ” Where are they ?, asks Aysil, a young woman running to look for her sister, her brother-in-law, their baby. Why this negligence or these mysteries? Why this delay and lack of efficiency in research? All international teams should be mobilized on this huge project. But no. While eight hundred people have disappeared, the Turkish rescuers keep the stranglehold, and their way of organizing the excavations is incomprehensible. What contempt for all of us! »
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