Malatya is one of the Kurdish provinces where the earthquakes of 6 February caused devastating destruction. In the villages of Topraktepe in the district of Doğanşehir and Ören in the district of Akçadağ, there are no longer any permanent structures.

Topraktepe with 350 households and Ören with 850 households were almost completely destroyed. State institutions did not provide any assistance after the earthquake disaster. Water and electricity supplies are still not guaranteed, livestock is still lying under the rubble.

In the Alevi village of Topraktepe, eleven people died in the earthquake. The settlement is only one and a half kilometres away from the district of Doğanşehir, yet the AKP mayor has not visited it, say the villagers.

Ali Babur is one of the few people who continue to hold out in Topraktepe. He stated that they lived in the village for three days after the earthquake without food and water and tried to clear the rubble with their own means. "The state came after three days. They threw tents in the middle and left. People from the village who live in cities like İzmir and Istanbul helped us. There was electricity again only after 14 days. We still have no water. Thank God we have food, but we have no clothes. Eleven of us died in the village. All 350 houses were destroyed. Out of 700 inhabitants, only 130 people live here now, everyone else has left."

Hasan Kayapınar, another villager, said that what they need most right now is a roof over their heads: "We can't live in tents anymore. We cannot stay in the cold. We are appealing to the authorities, but we don't know if they will hear our voice. The first earthquake was already very bad, the second one destroyed everything. For two days, we remained hungry and thirsty. The AFAD team came only after three days. There were people who needed to be rescued, but they died because the help came too late."

The village head Irfan Barlas also criticised the lack of any rescue measures in the village, stating: "On the first day, we cleared our roads by our own means. The village was destroyed in the second earthquake. Some people were burnt to death. Since no one came to help, people who had initially survived also died. We collected the bones of those who were burnt. You can see the condition our village is in now. Even the relief goods that came to us were confiscated. The Malatya Municipality brought two packets of wafers and wished us well. On the 16th day, they came to finally see how many dead animals were lying under the rubble."

The situation in the village of Ören in Akçadağ is no different. Eighty per cent of the houses have been destroyed. Most people have left the settlement and those who remain are mostly living in tents. Mustafa Özer, one of the villagers, said that they took shelter in cars for a few days after the earthquake because of the cold weather. He noted that help only came from volunteers and did not come from the state: "The state only started sending something much later. We mainly received help from the civilian population. Now we are thinking of moving to other towns. We can't clear the rubble here. We have no water and no electricity. They are trying to build water pipes, but there is no life here anymore."

Ninety-year-old Hasan Türkmenoğlu from Ören remarked that his house was destroyed, and he moved to his daughter's damaged house: "My house was destroyed. I was helpless. I came to my daughter's house, and I have nowhere else to go. I have experienced three earthquakes in my life, but I have never seen an earthquake like this. This earthquake hit everything in one second."