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    Turkey quake victims struggle in Europe's cold

    By SELCAN HACAOGLU | Associated Press – Fri, Feb 10, 2012

    ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Record low temperatures and heavy snow are making life even more miserable for more than 140,000 Turkish quake survivors still living in tents or temporary homes.

    As Europe battles a deep freeze that has killed hundreds since late January, despair is hitting those who lost their homes in tremors in eastern Turkey several months ago. Many are struggling to keep warm with coal stoves or electrical heaters.

    A magnitude-7.2 quake and a magnitude-5.7 aftershock in October flattened some 2,000 buildings, killing 644 people around the city of Van, a provincial capital.

    Turkey has moved about 134,000 people into temporary homes but about 7,500 others are still trying to survive a record cold winter in tents with just electric hookups.

    Gonul Meral, 33, has two children and has been homeless since October, when her landlord evicted her after an earthquake left her husband unemployed. She says her tent is so cold that water inside it is freezing solid.

    "It is so hard, I had to fight to get a tent and I don't know whether they will let me keep it because those whose houses were damaged have priority," Meral said by telephone. "I am doing the dishes now, but the water in the basin is frozen and I have to heat the water again."

    Turkey's government is racing to erect temporary housing sites and build proper apartment buildings for quake survivors.

    Ragtag unofficial encampments have also sprung up in empty patches of ground in the quake zone, in the courtyards of houses or even on highway median strips. Many people say they prefer to stay close to their property to keep watch over it, even if that means enduring living conditions that are rougher than in the organized camps.

    In Romania, freezing weather killed another 13 people and left thousands of villagers stranded as navigation on parts of Danube — one of Europe's key waterways — is blocked because of floating ice, authorities said Friday. Some 220 homeless people were brought to shelters as temperatures plunged to minus 20 Celsius (minus 4 Fahrenheit) overnight.

     

    12 comments

    • LoisLane
      LoisLane  •  3 mths ago
      It is easy to forget or not see how well off one is. Be thankful for what you have. I thought I was roughing it when my heater was broken for two days.
    • Thomas Edison
      Thomas Edison  •  3 mths ago
      God help those people, in todays modern means we have people struggling like this.
      • Elaine
        Elaine 3 mths ago
        Here in America, we're organized, over there, many are still living in very bad conditions. We have stricter codes and building enforcement, there, they do not.
    • ron
      ron  •  Phoenix, Arizona  •  3 mths ago
      Last time I looked at a map, Turkey was NOT in Europe. Still, prayers up to those suffering people.
      • ras
        ras 3 mths ago
        Look again. Everything west of Bosphorus Strait is in fact in Europe.
      • JM
        JM 3 mths ago
        Turkey is the only country in the world that crosses 2 continents part is in Asia and part is in Europe so that would mean Turkey is part of Europe.
      • Suleiman the Great
        Suleiman the Great 3 mths ago
        Ron...Stop looking at "maps" made by Disney! You've just made a total fool of yourself with your ignorant geographical comment!
    • Lillian
      Lillian  •  3 mths ago
      Earthquakes have nothing to do with governments and politics. And I don't appreciate that comments about Greeks by the way. It's only a matter of time before the next California earthquake and I'd hate for Royal Ron to be out in a tent surrounded by his Greek neighbors.
    • Nice and Fluffy!
      Nice and Fluffy!  •  3 mths ago
      They are still living in the tents? Where is the love? Where is the humanity? Why hasn't the government built homeless shelters or areas that can get these people back onto their feet?

      Turkey give your own people a break instead of worring so much about the violence in Syria, this is disturbing!
      • Tai-274-Wan
        Tai-274-Wan 3 mths ago
        Back in the U.N., they sided with the Palestinans, to divide Jerusalem. So this earthquake is no minor coincidence.
      • kxbpy
        kxbpy 3 mths ago
        Tai seems to be a religious fool!

        The majority of the people in that area are very backward Kurds - difficult when everything is going well.
      • Ayhan
        Ayhan 3 mths ago
        Hey, the government is doing all it can. Why dont you send them some money if youre so disturbed?
    • Royal Ron
      Royal Ron  •  Pleasanton, California  •  3 mths ago
      Send them to Greece where it is getting hot because of the Greek bankruptcy and the Turks will make a good life for themselves and prosper while the lazy, stupid Greeks will only look with their fingers up their rears!
      • Tai-274-Wan
        Tai-274-Wan 3 mths ago
        Greece is known as the "Cradle of Civilization."
      • Ayhan
        Ayhan 3 mths ago
        A cradle is of no use once you grow up.
      • Royal Ron
        Royal Ron 3 mths ago
        Lilian sounds like you know something, most likely a worthless Greek!
    • Cup of tea
      Cup of tea  •  3 mths ago
      The Turkish government is busy working with U.S to invade Syria. No time for this trivial problem irrelevant to human rights . LOL
      • NJ
        NJ 3 mths ago
        You said it right !!!
    • Fritz
      Fritz  •  West Palm Beach, Florida  •  3 mths ago
      When does it warm up again? Did not enough people die already, whether from fighting or natural causes?
    • JOE
      JOE  •  3 mths ago
      Turks are genocide perpetrators...In fact the very word "genocide" was created in 1944 by Rafael Lemkin FOR WHAT THE TURKS DID TO THE ARMENIANS.. What goes around comes around..
    • JOE
      JOE  •  3 mths ago
      Send the Turks to the Syrian desert like the Turks did the Armenians before they stole the city of Van from them and called it modern day Turkey....
    • Orland
      Orland  •  Chico, California  •  3 mths ago
      II missed when this happened, why was it not in the News? Where is the UN, Red Cross?
    • Paul Jones
      Paul Jones  •  3 mths ago
      corrupt incompetent muslim swine
     Post a comment
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