More than 10 days after large sections of southern Türkiye and northern Syria were struck by a devastating earthquake – and subsequent tremors – the Bal family have managed to secure a safe place to live with warm beds and running water.
The family survived the 7.8 magnitude earthquake which destroyed buildings and caused widescale devastation in their town of Samandağı, in the hard-hit Hatay province.
Facing uncertainty during the week following the disaster, the family managed to secure accommodation in an unoccupied flat in Ankara, the country’s capital city.
The flat is owned by Turkish Australian Hatem Akal, who decided to offer up her property after seeing the devastation from her home in Melbourne.
More than 13 million people have been affected by the earthquake, with Türkiye’s disaster agency AFAD announcing that the death toll has surpassed 35,000, with 81,000 injured.
The agency estimates that more than 12,000 buildings were destroyed or heavily damaged across the vast area and an estimated 195,962 people have been evacuated.
People are seen at relief tents following the disaster which struct both countries. Credit: SOPA Images/Sipa USA
Hatay was among the hardest-hit provinces, and Sinasi Bal said his family was forced to leave their hometown due to the horrid conditions.
“Life is finished [in Samandağı], it's all over. There is no electricity, no water. My house was damaged by the earthquake,” he said.
“We barely saved our lives. We waited a couple of days, but there was no help from the authorities.
“What will happen to us is unclear. We are in total limbo. I hope we will be able to return to our home soon.”
Bahar and Sinasi Bal at their temporary home with Australian Doğan Coşkun and other family members.
He said he had wished to remain in Samandağı to pull his nephews from the rubble, but the family could not stand the horrific conditions they were enduring.
“In the first two days [after the quake], we were hearing their voices under the rubble. But no help arrived. We couldn’t get them out.
“One of the reasons we couldn’t stay in the city is the smell. Under the rubble, the stench of corpses now spreads.
"Security is another issue. I just received news that thieves broke in and plundered my already damaged house."
To assist with the logistics of passing the keys to desperate survivors, Ms Akal and her daughter Serda Dasoğlu contacted fellow Melburnian Doğan Coşkun, who is on a campaign to gather the keys to unoccupied residences owned by Australians.
Mother and daughter Hatem Akal and Serda Daşoğlu from Dandenong opened their homes to those in need.
“I was on the bus to go to another city at that moment. My wife was in Antakya. The earthquake caught me on the bus,” he said.
“I tried to go back but all highways became completely inaccessible. Cell phones didn’t work and it took me two days to find out that my wife was OK."
The couple finally reunited in Ankara days later.
News of Mr Coşkun's despair reached his family friend Fatih Karakaş, a musician and academic at RMIT University in Melbourne, who stepped in to offer up his family's holiday house in Ankara.
"My mother opened the house to them indefinitely. This is where they thought about reaching out to other Turkish Australians who might have unoccupied properties around Türkiye that they use during their travels to Türkiye,” Mr Karakaş said.
“My mother is also opening up her holiday house in Bodrum for a displaced family. There are thousands of stories like this around the country."
Mr Coşkun has placed nearly 20 survivors in four homes owned by members of the Australian community and is organising two more homes.
“After learning that a friend from Melbourne has opened his home, many people from the Australian Turkish community have called me to open their homes to those in need,” he said.
To further assist, he cleans the unoccupied homes before those displaced arrive.
“Tomorrow a new family is coming from the earthquake zone, but we couldn't turn on the gas in the apartment.
“So we bought an electric heating panel and put it in.”
Host Serda Daşoğlu is calling on others in Australia to offer up their unoccupied homes.
“We are calling for people in Australia who have vacant homes or apartments in Türkiye to open them up to support the people that have been affected by this disaster. It is the least we can do.”
She says they are praying that the victims all get "back on their feet" as soon as possible.
