Izmir residents look for shelter, answers in earthquake aftermath
As Izmir residents recover from a 7.0 earthquake that hit Turkey’s third-largest city Friday, engineers look for ways to reduce structural damage in future natural disasters.
ISTANBUL – Fatma Demirer, a lawyer in Izmir, was visiting a client in prison when a strong earthquake hit the city Friday afternoon on Oct. 30. She had left her cell phone at the prison entrance, as is required in Turkey, and when she recovered it upon exiting, she found dozens of messages from family members and colleagues who were eagerly awaiting her response.
Demirer soon learned her office building had collapsed and her co-worker Sercan Turgut was inside.
“I immediately called Sercan,” Demirer told Al-Monitor. “He answered and said ‘Our office is completely destroyed. I am in it, but I am okay. Please rescue me.”
When Demirer arrived at her office, she said the nine-floor building it was in had been reduced to two floors of rubble. The office was located in the Bayrakli district of Izmir, which was one of the areas to experience the most damage during Friday’s earthquake.
