He lived in a house perched atop a rocky hill, where a sturdy subfloor became a quiet safeguard that saved a family during a dawn earthquake. The tremor struck seven months ago, on a February night that touched fifty thousand lives across southeast Türkiye and northwest Syria.
Today, Özlem, more than half a year later, finds small but meaningful pockets of luck. The building stayed upright and intact, offering a safe shelter when many others could not. Özlem and her relatives continue to sleep under their own roof, while hundreds of thousands nearby in the Antakya area face a very different, harsher reality. The contrast could not be starker for those most affected by the quake.
Access to clean drinking water remains extraordinarily difficult, and everyday life is almost beyond reach for many residents. Supermarkets feel more costly, and the food that arrives is sometimes spoiled. Movement around the city is constrained due to recurring damage, and traffic incidents complicate daily routines, as a middle-aged local who once taught at a primary school described.
Danger under rubble
The earthquake left thousands of buildings damaged while crews cleared debris across the region. As of now, roughly 300,000 structures sit in limbo, awaiting clearance to be demolished. With the ground settling and aftershocks waning, danger hides inside these very buildings, waiting for the next unsettling turn.
Cities struck by the disaster face a late-summer haze of dust and sand that is gradually being lifted by excavators. Life presses on through suspended skies, yet risks persist. Experts warn of serious health hazards from repeated exposure to toxins, especially asbestos fibers found in many older constructions, which raise long-term concerns for residents and workers alike.
The Turkish government reports that airborne asbestos levels in affected zones remain within the safety limits recommended for exposure. Schools reopened in September, but the mood remains cautious rather than celebratory. Demolitions continue, and the possibility of future harm lingers. The priority is to protect children from unsafe conditions while balancing rapid recovery with enduring safety and well-being.
Demolition and construction
In the early days after the disaster, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan promised housing for those left homeless, aiming to complete the effort within a year for millions of people. Seven months later, hundreds of thousands still live in refugee camps formed from containers repurposed as temporary homes.
The experience of living in these improvised towns during the summer heat has been grueling. One parent spoke to a Turkish newspaper, saying that while the containers provide relief, life inside them is extremely hard. That sentiment echoes across many families who lost loved ones and homes, feeling more like a daily struggle to survive than a comfortable life.
Final figures are sobering. Direct material damage sits around 34 billion dollars, with another 64 billion needed to rebuild the destroyed infrastructure. These macro numbers only tell part of the story, missing more than 50,000 lives lost and the enormous effort required to revive a historic city like Antakya in the wake of a February Sunday night.