Turkey earthquake: Rescue operations proceeded painfully slowly, claim civilians

Six days after a massive earthquake killed more than 28000 in Syria and Turkey sorrow and disbelief are turning to anger and tension over a sense that there has been an ineffective unfair and disproportionate response to the historic disasterMany in Turkiye express frustration that rescue operations have proceeded painfully slowly and that valuable time has been lost during the narrow window for finding people alive beneath the rubbleOthers particularly in the southern Hatay province near the Syrian border say that Turkiyes government was late in delivering assistance to the hardesthit region for what they suspect are both political and religious reasonsIn Adiyaman southeastern Turkiye Elif Busra Ozturk waited outside the wreckage of a building on Saturday where her uncle and aunt were trapped believed dead and where the bodies of two of her cousins had already been found For three days I waited outside for help No one came There were so few rescue teams that they could only intervene in places they were sure there were people alive she saidAt the same building complex Abdullah Tas 66 said he had been sleeping inside a car near the building where his son daughterinlaw and four grandchildren were buried He said that rescuers had first arrived four days after the earthquake struck The Associated Press could not independently verify his claimWhat good is that for the people under the debris he askedThe sentiment that not enough is being done to free peoples buried family members has taken hold in other parts of the earthquake zone as well In the ancient city of Antakya a crush of onlookers stood behind police tape on Saturday to watch as bulldozers clawed at a highrise luxury apartment building that had toppled onto its sideOver 1000 residents had been in the 12story building when the quake struck according to family members who were watching the recovery effortHundreds were still inside they said but complained that the effort to free them had been slow and unseriousThis is an atrocity I dont know what to say said Bediha Kanmaz 60 whose son and 7monthold grandson had already been pulled dead out of the building locked in an embrace and whose daughterinlaw was still insideWe open body bags to see if theyre ours were checking if theyre our children Were even checking the ones that are torn to pieces she said of herself and other griefstricken family membersKanmaz blamed Turkeys government for the slow response and accused the national rescue service of failing to do enough to recover people aliveShe and others in Antakya expressed the belief that the presence of a large minority of Alevi an Anatolian Islamic tradition that differs from Sunni and Shia Islam and Alawites in Syria had made them a low priority for the government because traditionally few Alevis vote for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans ruling party There was no evidence however that the region was overlooked for sectarian reasonsAlso read Turkey earthquake NDRF Turkish Army rescue 8yearold girl in NurdagiErdogan said on Wednesday postquake efforts were ongoing across the 10 provinces hit by the quake and called allegations of no help from state institutions like the military lies fake slanderHe has acknowledged shortcomings Officials said rescue efforts in Hatay were initially complicated by the destruction of the local airports runway and bad road conditionsAnger over the extent of the destruction however is not limited to individuals Turkish authorities have been detaining or issuing detention warrants for dozens of people who were allegedly involved in the construction of buildings that collapsed and the justice minister has vowed to punish anyone responsibleKanmaz blamed negligence on the part of the developer of the apartment building where her family had been killedIf I could wrap my hands around the contractors neck I would tear him to shreds she saidThat contractor who oversaw the construction of the 250unit building was detained at Istanbul Airport Friday before boarding a flight out of the country Turkiyes official Anadolu news agency reported On Saturday he was formally arrested His lawyer suggested the public was looking for a scapegoatIn multiethnic southern Turkiye other tensions are arising Some expressed frustration that Syrian refugees who have lived in the region after fleeing a devastating civil war in their own country are burdening the sparse welfare system and competing for resources with Turkish peopleThere are many poor people in Hatay but they dont offer us any welfare they give it to the Syrians They give so much to the Syrians Kanmaz said There are more Syrians than Turks hereThere were signs on Saturday that the tensions could be boiling overTwo German aid groups and the Austrian Armed Forces temporarily interrupted their rescue work in the Hatay region citing the tense situation and fear for the safety of their staff They resumed work after the Turkish army secured the area the Austrian defense ministry spokesman tweetedThere is increasing tension between different groups in Turkiye Lt Col Pierre Kugelweis of the Austrian Armed Forces told the APA news agency Shots have reportedly been firedGerman news agency dpa reported that chief of operations of the aid group ISAR Germany Steven Berger said that it can be seen that grief is slowly giving way to anger in Turkiyes quakestruck regions For Kanmaz it is both grief and angerIm angry Life is over she said We live for our children what matters most to us is our children We exist if they exist Now we are over Everything you see here is overThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever