ERZURUM, Turkey - A powerful 5.1 magnitude earthquake hit the Kurdish village of Topci, in Kinikar district in Turkey’s Erzurum province on Friday.
The tremor destroyed several houses and six livestock shelters, with four villagers wounded, including one woman who is still recovering at the Erzurum University Hospital.
Seismic hazard in Turkey is highest along the plate boundaries, but there is a significant risk of damaging earthquakes across the country.
One of the villagers whose property was damaged by the quake, Orhan Kurmanci, is calling on the government to provide them with material compensation because the tremor destroyed their sources of livelihood.
“My livestock barn has collapsed, leaving my animals without shelter. I have put them in another villager's house,” Kurmanci told Rudaw on Saturday.
“Seven to eight of my livestock were stranded inside the barn before they were removed from underneath the rubble by the villagers. I was not in the village when the quake happened, I was in the city [of Erzurum],” he said.
Ayten, a 50-year-old woman, was cooking in the kitchen when the quake hit the village, destroying entire sections of her kitchen’s walls and injuring her. She is still receiving treatment at hospital.
Ilyas Kurmanci, Ayten's son, told Rudaw that the rubble fell on top of her, trapping her below.
“Villagers came to pull her out of the rubble. In the beginning, they said she was dead. They eventually pulled her out. Medical teams rushed her to the hospital. She is being treated,” he recounted.
“They [the government] brought a tent to us, but it is small. Together, two people cannot even stay under it. Our house and livestock barns are destroyed, so our livestock are in the open. Our living conditions have really worsened. We do not know what to do.”
According to the villagers, some of the aid has reached the area, but there is an urgent need for more assistance.
The chieftain of the village, Ayhan Kurmanci, told Rudaw that, “People are staying in their neighbors' places. It is very cold and no one can bear to stay in the tents.”
So far, the quake damage has not been fully determined, but more than a dozen homes were reportedly destroyed.
After the earthquake, teams from the Ministry of Health, emergency teams, and AFAD also arrived in the area, promising that the villagers would be compensated in the near future.
Alpay Tekin, an emergency team member, pledged to remain on standby as a precaution.
Video editing by Sarkawt Mohammed
