Search and rescue efforts continue in southeastern Turkey as workers race against time to reach victims buried under rubble after a series of powerful earthquakes hit the region.
Earthquakes of magnitude 7.8 and -7.6 occurred on Monday just a few hours apart and brought down entire blocks of flats in several cities. The death toll exceeded 5,400 in Turkey and 1,800 in neighboring Syria.
After the disaster, crowds of trapped victims took to social media to call for help and pinpoint their locations for rescuers.
Firat Yayla, the YouTuber known as Charmquell, was one of them.
He he said in the video posted on his Instagram Stories early Tuesday after the first quake that he was stuck under rubble in the central Antakya district of Hatay province, and begged his followers to rescue him.
“Friends, we are stuck under an earthquake,” he said in a video shot in a dark room. “Mother! are you okay Mother! Tell me you are hiding somewhere. Please help!” he added before ending the video with his home address.
He later announced on Instagram that he was rescued, but that his mother remained under the concrete.
A young man in another video trapped under the rubble in Hatay’s Iskenderun district shared his address and said, “If you love your God, please come and save us.”
The video was widely shared on Twitter.
Hatay is one of the Turkish provinces most affected by the disaster. The airport was damaged and closed, making it difficult for aid and rescue teams to reach the devastated city.
Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Agency said 5,775 buildings were destroyed in the quake and more than 20,400 people were injured.
He rocked while he slept
Boran Kubat, a 20-year-old studying in Istanbul, was visiting relatives in the city of Malatya when the second earthquake hit his family home.
Kubat said that after the first earthquake, they entered the apartment thinking it was safe, but that the second one found them while they were sleeping.
He asked for help in video message posted on social networks under his collapsed house where he was trapped with his mother, grandmother and two uncles.
“Everyone who sees this should come and help us. Now everyone come help us!” he said detailing his address.
He said his friends reacted immediately and he and his family were saved.
More than 12,000 Turkish search and rescue personnel are working in the affected areas, along with 9,000 soldiers. About 70 countries and send personnel, equipment and aid.
‘Still shaking’
The man with Twitter Can Turker posted message on Monday to followers as they tagged Turkish government officials. He, his wife and baby were stuck in the Liwan Hotel in Antakya.
“The stairs collapsed, we were stuck on the third floor. We are still shaking. Please help,” he pleaded.
Can Turker tweeted the next day that he was rescued by his friends without the help of rescue teams.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan – who called it the worst disaster to hit Turkey since the 1938 earthquake in Elazig province that killed more than 33,000 people – declared a three-month state of emergency in 10 affected areas on Wednesday.
More than 8,000 people were pulled out of the ruins in Turkey alone.
But tens of thousands more are estimated to be trapped under piles of flattened buildings, and many in southeastern Turkey have complained that rescue efforts are falling short of the scale of the disaster.
Although there were lucky people who announced their situation on social networks and were saved, there are still countless messages on the Internet calling for help – either for themselves under the collapsed buildings, or for their loved ones who cannot be reached.
It is difficult to know how the situation unfolded for many.