AN Islander who travelled to Turkey to evacuate his family following this month’s fatal earthquake has described the sheer devastation he witnessed in his hometown and the freezing conditions residents are having to endure.
Cuma Dagilan (42), whose aunt and cousin died in the quake, said he ‘didn’t have any choice’ but to head to Turkey and rescue his family, which included a 15-month-old baby. He rented a van and spent around 18 hours driving 850km from the ruined town of Pazarcik to Antalya.
Mr Dagilan – who has lived in Jersey since 2004 and owns Turkish Delight in St Helier – said he returned to his hometown last weekend to find his family living in one tent with limited access to food, water or electricity in ‘freezing’ temperatures.
Tremors up of to 4.4 magnitude were still being felt in Pazarcik, according to Mr Dagilan.
The death toll from the earthquake, which initially struck Syria and Turkey on 6 February, is reported to have risen to more than 44,000.
Commenting on what he saw in Pazarcik, Mr Dagilan said: ‘All the houses have gone, everything is gone.
‘The earthquake started from Pazarcik and this town is upside down. I would say that 99% of these people don’t have a house or most of their house has gone.’
He added: ‘They [my family] are really scared. They are especially scared about the young children we have. My sister has a little baby who is 15 months old and another child.
‘My brother has a two-year-old and a seven-year-old. They are very small kids, and then my mum and dad are very old.’
Mr Dagilan said that residents who were still living in Pazarcik had gone 12 days without a shower, while having to live in makeshift tents.
When asked about his 18-hour journey, Mr Dagilan replied: ‘If you don’t have any choice, what can you do? In Parzarcik, they can’t wash, they don’t have a toilet… [it’s been] 12 days sine they’ve been able to shower. They don’t have water to shower and they don’t have electricity.’
The weather in the area has been described as ‘ice cold’ by Mr Dagilan.
‘You can’t even imagine,’ he said. ‘I lived there as well for four days and four nights.
‘You don’t have electricity; they just have a little wooden but that fire only lasts for about half an hour. It’s freezing when we are sleeping.’
Mr Dagilan is now staying in rented accommodation in Antalya and said that he was helping to fill vans heading towards the affected area with essential supplies.
He is also fundraising to help support those affected by the earthquake and has currently raised £2,000.
Donations can be made at justgiving.com/crowdfunding/cuma-dalan.
