Earthquake Shatters Rebuilt Lives of Syrian Refugees in Turkey

First, Syria’s civil battle drove Hind Qayduha from her residence within the metropolis of Aleppo. Then, battle and joblessness compelled her household to flee two extra instances. Two years in the past, she got here to southern Turkey, pondering she had lastly discovered security and stability.

However when a robust earthquake struck per week in the past, it destroyed their condominium in the hard-hit Turkish city of Antakya and the household was displaced once more. They sought security close by, braced in opposition to the aspect of the mountain round a medieval monastery and uncovered to a chilly rain; like many different survivors, they had been too shaken to remain below any roof.

Two days later, they had been dwelling on the ground of an unfinished carwash in Antakya.

“That is my room for me, my husband and three children,” Ms. Qayduha stated, laughing as she outlined together with her fingers a small circle on the black-and-white patterned blanket, a meager cushion atop the gravel flooring. She pointed to a different a part of the identical blanket: “And there’s my mom’s room.”

She stated different kinfolk who had been dwelling close to her had been nonetheless buried within the rubble of their properties.

For Syrians, each refugees like Ms. Qayduha and people nonetheless dwelling again residence, final Monday’s earthquake was a catastrophe inside a catastrophe. Over the previous 12 years, their lives have been uprooted by civil battle and the mass displacement and demise it introduced. Syrians know all too properly the lack of properties — partitions felled in mere seconds, individuals trapped below the rubble for days. However the refugees who fled to Turkey thought that they had left these traumas behind.

Now, this previous week, some stated the wholesale destruction wrought by the earthquake was far worse than something that they had seen in additional than a decade of battle.

The civil battle displaced greater than half of Syria’s 21 million individuals, and almost 4 million of them ended up as refugees in Turkey. Many lived within the swath of territory most closely affected by the earthquake, which killed greater than 29,000 individuals in southern Turkey and greater than 3,500 throughout the border in northwestern Syria — tolls that maintain steadily rising.

At first, the Syrian refugees had been largely welcomed in Turkey. The Syrians had comparatively first rate alternatives to make new lives and livelihoods.

However over time, they’ve confronted rising discrimination and pressure to return home, particularly lately because the Turkish financial system has taken a pointy downturn. The immense humanitarian crisis created by the earthquake reignited and heightened these longstanding tensions.

“And now we’re below risk from the Turks, who may kick us in another country,” stated Ms. Qayduha, 37.

Turkish residents of Antakya have leveled unsubstantiated accusations on the Syrians of looting or grabbing jewellery off corpses.

Tulin Kuseyri, a 62-year-old Turkish girl, stood by the Orontes River in Antakya on Thursday, watching searchers take away a physique from an condominium constructing. Close to her lay the physique of somebody she had recognized, wrapped in a pink blanket — one in every of many kinfolk and pals she stated she had misplaced within the earthquake, alongside together with her household’s cotton manufacturing unit and her residence.

“I don’t need Syrian immigrants in Antakya anymore,” she stated, barely in a position to management herself. “As a substitute of paying for Syrian individuals from our taxes, we wish them to deal with Turks.”

But the connection between Turks and Syrian refugees is way extra complicated than concern, blame and resentment. In Antakya and different affected areas, some Syrian households stated Turkish ones had shared no matter shelter and meals that they had with them.

Different Syrian refugees stated that the government-run rescue and reduction response had not discriminated among the many needy.

“Thank God, Turkey isn’t distinguishing between us,” stated Jamal Ezzal Deen, a 30-year-old Syrian, as he held his 2-year-old daughter, Fatima. “Even when there’s some racism from the individuals.”

On Thursday at a tent camp erected round Antakya’s soccer stadium, he had watched as a Turkish girl hassled a Turkish Military officer, insisting that the help ought to go solely to the Turks, not the Syrians. The officer advised her they wouldn’t discriminate.

Ms. Qayduha stated she nonetheless had household in Syria, together with two sisters in northwestern Idlib Province and an aunt in Aleppo — two of the areas hardest hit by the quake. However she hasn’t been in a position to join with them. It’s a continuing reminder that Syrians on each side of the border are united in struggling.

She stated this was the second time she had misplaced her residence and all her possessions.

“I don’t personal something besides these children, thank God,” she stated in a raspy voice, hoarse from the chilly, as she prolonged her arms towards her 9-year-old daughter.

She and her household had been determined to depart the carwash, which has a big opening that enables in bitterly chilly air. They need to discover higher shelter within the tent camps the Turkish authorities has been establishing.

However they had been spooked by rumors that they wouldn’t be allowed in as a result of they’re Syrian, or that roaming teams of armed Turks had been searching for Syrians to assault.

And it was not solely the potential for rising anti-Syrian sentiment or the concern of assaults that has made some Syrians need to depart Turkey: They dread another earthquake or other natural disaster.

At night time within the carwash, the dad and mom sheltering there put their kids to sleep dressed and carrying footwear, in case one other aftershock ought to pressure them to run.

All of it turned out to be an excessive amount of for Ms. Qayduha and her prolonged household. They used a few of their final remaining cash and paid drivers to take them farther west, outdoors the earthquake zone.

“Again after we had been dwelling within the battle, we might flee to a different space and we might really feel safer,” stated Ms. Qayduha’s mom, Dalal Masri, 55. “However right here, we don’t really feel like there’s anyplace secure to go.”

Exterior a collapsed condominium constructing in Antakya, a lady in her 50s who stated she had come from northwestern Syria to Turkey simply days earlier than the earthquake saved a hopeful vigil for days. She didn’t need to give her identify out of concern for her security.

The constructing was the place her daughter, 9 months pregnant, had been dwelling together with her household, and the mom had come to Turkey for the beginning.

“Can a mom depart her daughter’s aspect?” she stated on Friday, wiping away tears. She squeezed her eyes shut, seemingly prepared them to cease. “Everybody right here is ready for somebody beneath.”

Wrapped in a navy scarf, she saved a watch on a handful of rescuers who had been strolling alongside the upturned edges of the constructing’s balconies, often calling into the destroyed constructing’s depths and listening intently for any response, nonetheless faint.

When requested if any voices had been heard up to now, she started to cry once more.

“It’s been 100 hours.”

Close by, a playground was strung up with sheets and blankets, become a relaxation space for rescue employees. A skinny foam mattress stretched throughout the yellow slide, a makeshift mattress.

On Saturday, the mom lastly received the grim information. Rescuers had discovered her daughter’s physique and that of her 3-year-old son in the midst of the night time. They buried them subsequent to one another.

The mom stated she had come to Turkey anticipating to welcome one other grandchild. As a substitute, she’s going to return to Syria, having buried the daughter who was her finest buddy.

Vivian Yee contributed reporting.