A day in Van
A day in Van
Earthquake victims in Van are resisting against worsening living conditions as the interest in their situation is fading away day by day since two major earthquakes in late October and early November. Following a flurried and hard day from early morning hours till late night, earthquake victims begin each day with new hopes.
The life struggles in tents continue as the people in the area are still trying to heal the wounds of the earthquakes. The life of earthquake victims gives you pause for both thought and sadness. The day, not any different from the one before, begins with a flurried “hello” and continues with a struggle to find a tent in long queues or to organize the living areas and conditions in tents of poor quality. The doors of tents are opened by women at early morning hours. They carry coal and woods from the coal hole into the tent to light the heating stoves in tents. They use small pieces of wood and newspaper to light the fire. The other members of the family wake up in the meantime when the mother opens the tent’s door to let the smoke of the heating stove out. At least seven people live in 10 square meter tents. They can’t even stretch their legs out while sleeping. They firstly make the beds up and go to a water fountain to wash their face. Or, they go into their houses if it is a single-store building and doesn’t have a high risk of demolition until they finish their things inside.
While daughters at all ages continue to help their mothers, the difficult conditions led by the earthquake teach sons also to give a hand to their mothers. The breakfast is made ready in a very short time as each member of the family moves quickly and lays the table. The tent is so small that everybody cannot stand up at the same time. Foods for breakfast are lessening day by day in line with the poverty arising after the earthquake.
Families who don’t have even the indispensable cheese and olive for breakfast are still trying to firmly hold on to the life in Van under these circumstances. Breakfasts are an opportunity for all together conversations which are mainly dominated by most recent earthquakes and aftershocks. Feeling dozens of quakes in a day in the last two months, earthquake victims guess at the magnitudes of shakes. Still, what they mostly discuss is the question why they still can’t receive any help despite their application and registration to many material distribution centers. With a reproach to the governorship, local governance, deputies and many others, citizens discuss that they have been left alone.
Following the breakfast, men go out to look for a job while children start a play with a ball. With the removal of wreckage, the life in Van is perking itself up day by day. People walk on streets, shop at open markets, work, look for job, drink tea at coffees and queue up before the office of governor or the crisis desk. Cumhuriyet, the busiest street of the city, gets crowded towards the midday. Shopkeepers sell their stuff on streets since shops are still closed. A salesman gathers dozens of people around himself and loudly promotes the product he sells. Children walk after people for minutes and sell things to them. Journalists are after images to shoot, loss adjustment performers walk around with materials in their hand. The most active and crowded places are coffeehouses where men pass the entire day drinking tea and discussions on earthquake and aid materials. Ehmedê Xanî Park is the most beautiful place to smell fresh air in sunny days when it doesn’t snow.
While the day thus evolves into evening outdoors, women spend most of their time on cleaning tents with sweepers or brooms, or they shake the carpets if they have none of these. Old grandmothers and grandfathers spend time taking a walk in near areas. Women carry water from fountains with bins. They share the news they have heard, such as new tent distributions. They use water in cooking, tea-making, drinking and washing up dishes and clothes. Once the cleaning is over, they start to prepare the lunch.
The life outside slowly gives way to silence as the evening approaches, all streets lapse into dead silence soon after the sunset. Street lamps are dead, a few people walking on pavements, streets are left to cats and dogs.
Following a whole-day waiting in queues, people turn home either empty-handed or with a small package of basic needs they buy with the refund checks given to them and valued at 50 TL. Sitting in tents the whole day, old grandmothers in the area try to protect themselves from the cold with blankets.
Apart from basic meals such as cooked rice, macaroni and lentil soup, families eat breakfast food for dinner. They watch news reports during the dinner which is followed by tea made on electric heaters in tents. Members of families talk about the day while the steam of the boiling tea water spreads around in the tent. They discuss and question the reason why they aren’t given tents or other aid materials distributed by authorities.
They usually watch Kurdish sketch CDs as they don’t have opportunity to watch many channels without satellite dishes. Dialogues are carefully followed by elders while children speak to each other and drink their tea. The heating stove is filled with coal and woods for a good heating till morning hours. Shoes aren’t left outside against freezing.
While hours progress in this way, gunshots are heard from outside towards 23.00 at night. Worried about thieves, men stand watch as of the midnight. They light a fire and alternately wait there till early morning hours.
* Source: DIHA News Agency
The life struggles in tents continue as the people in the area are still trying to heal the wounds of the earthquakes. The life of earthquake victims gives you pause for both thought and sadness. The day, not any different from the one before, begins with a flurried “hello” and continues with a struggle to find a tent in long queues or to organize the living areas and conditions in tents of poor quality. The doors of tents are opened by women at early morning hours. They carry coal and woods from the coal hole into the tent to light the heating stoves in tents. They use small pieces of wood and newspaper to light the fire. The other members of the family wake up in the meantime when the mother opens the tent’s door to let the smoke of the heating stove out. At least seven people live in 10 square meter tents. They can’t even stretch their legs out while sleeping. They firstly make the beds up and go to a water fountain to wash their face. Or, they go into their houses if it is a single-store building and doesn’t have a high risk of demolition until they finish their things inside.
While daughters at all ages continue to help their mothers, the difficult conditions led by the earthquake teach sons also to give a hand to their mothers. The breakfast is made ready in a very short time as each member of the family moves quickly and lays the table. The tent is so small that everybody cannot stand up at the same time. Foods for breakfast are lessening day by day in line with the poverty arising after the earthquake.
Families who don’t have even the indispensable cheese and olive for breakfast are still trying to firmly hold on to the life in Van under these circumstances. Breakfasts are an opportunity for all together conversations which are mainly dominated by most recent earthquakes and aftershocks. Feeling dozens of quakes in a day in the last two months, earthquake victims guess at the magnitudes of shakes. Still, what they mostly discuss is the question why they still can’t receive any help despite their application and registration to many material distribution centers. With a reproach to the governorship, local governance, deputies and many others, citizens discuss that they have been left alone.
Following the breakfast, men go out to look for a job while children start a play with a ball. With the removal of wreckage, the life in Van is perking itself up day by day. People walk on streets, shop at open markets, work, look for job, drink tea at coffees and queue up before the office of governor or the crisis desk. Cumhuriyet, the busiest street of the city, gets crowded towards the midday. Shopkeepers sell their stuff on streets since shops are still closed. A salesman gathers dozens of people around himself and loudly promotes the product he sells. Children walk after people for minutes and sell things to them. Journalists are after images to shoot, loss adjustment performers walk around with materials in their hand. The most active and crowded places are coffeehouses where men pass the entire day drinking tea and discussions on earthquake and aid materials. Ehmedê Xanî Park is the most beautiful place to smell fresh air in sunny days when it doesn’t snow.
While the day thus evolves into evening outdoors, women spend most of their time on cleaning tents with sweepers or brooms, or they shake the carpets if they have none of these. Old grandmothers and grandfathers spend time taking a walk in near areas. Women carry water from fountains with bins. They share the news they have heard, such as new tent distributions. They use water in cooking, tea-making, drinking and washing up dishes and clothes. Once the cleaning is over, they start to prepare the lunch.
The life outside slowly gives way to silence as the evening approaches, all streets lapse into dead silence soon after the sunset. Street lamps are dead, a few people walking on pavements, streets are left to cats and dogs.
Following a whole-day waiting in queues, people turn home either empty-handed or with a small package of basic needs they buy with the refund checks given to them and valued at 50 TL. Sitting in tents the whole day, old grandmothers in the area try to protect themselves from the cold with blankets.
Apart from basic meals such as cooked rice, macaroni and lentil soup, families eat breakfast food for dinner. They watch news reports during the dinner which is followed by tea made on electric heaters in tents. Members of families talk about the day while the steam of the boiling tea water spreads around in the tent. They discuss and question the reason why they aren’t given tents or other aid materials distributed by authorities.
They usually watch Kurdish sketch CDs as they don’t have opportunity to watch many channels without satellite dishes. Dialogues are carefully followed by elders while children speak to each other and drink their tea. The heating stove is filled with coal and woods for a good heating till morning hours. Shoes aren’t left outside against freezing.
While hours progress in this way, gunshots are heard from outside towards 23.00 at night. Worried about thieves, men stand watch as of the midnight. They light a fire and alternately wait there till early morning hours.
* Source: DIHA News Agency
