Survivors finding shelter in makeshift tent cities in quake-hit Türkiye

ISTANBUL, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- A week after twin earthquakes devastated southern Türkiye that killed tens of thousands and left many more homeless, many survivors now find themselves living in makeshift tent cities.

Guarded by military personnel, the tent cities provide not just temporary housing units erected by volunteers, nongovernmental organizations, and Türkiye's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), but also mobile kitchens, psychological support facilities and social spaces.

Large piles of donated clothes are distributed to survivors there by AFAD and the Turkish Red Crescent.

One survivor staying in a tent city in the port district of Iskenderun in the southern province of Hatay told the local daily Hurriyet that they do not know how long they will be staying or how they'll ever get used to it.

"We found a tent to stay in, but we don't have a single thing to put in it. There is no heater or any fuel," said another woman who had recently settled in, according to the report.

Saban Helvaci is staying with his seven-member family at a tent city in the town of Samandag, also in Hatay, Anadolu Agency reported.

"We were at home when the earthquake hit and got out without looking back. We spent a day walking in the rain and stayed at the park. We couldn't get any clothes because our dressers had toppled ... I spent two days soaked with back aches. Fortunately, they gave me some medicine here, and I'm doing better," he was quoted by the report as saying.

Hatay, which is on the southern tip of Türkiye bordering Syria, was hit particularly hard by the dual earthquakes on Feb. 6, and existing tent cities are not enough to meet the need for housing survivors.

The 115-tent city where Helvaci is staying will be soon accompanied by another 225 tents in the Samandag stadium in Hatay, Anadolu reported.

The AHBAP Association, a local non-governmental relief organization, built the Ahbap tent city in Hatay, providing shelter for around 3,000 families.

Meanwhile, Kalyon Holding, a Turkish construction firm, has begun building container shelters that will temporarily house another 3,000 families in the southeastern province of Gaziantep.

In the southern province of Kahramanmaras, a total of 1,500 tents in two tent cities were erected in the town of Elbistan, also the epicenter of the second 7.6-magnitude quake.

"The first day was very difficult, but then help began arriving from all around the country," said Seref Kuscu, a resident of one of the two tent cities, told Demiroren News Agency.

"We're fine with regard to food and clothes. Our biggest issue here is the cold. The things we need the most are heaters and coal," he said.

The southeastern city of Diyarbakir, one of the 10 provinces hit by the earthquakes, is also expected to get 4,200 new tents.

The death toll from the quakes in Türkiye has so far reached 31,643, according to official figures.