Turkish children play 'earthquake' with building blocks as they try to understand scale of disaster

Gulf Today Report

Turkish children left homeless by the massive tremor that struck Turkey and Syria last week have been learning to cope with what happened and their ongoing anxiety over aftershocks by playing 'earthquake' with building blocks, a teacher said.

"They talk about the earthquake. They build blocks and say... 'is this okay for earthquakes?' and 'is it stable?'," said teacher Busra Civelek, who was looking after 22 children in a makeshift classroom on a ferry that has been converted into a clinic and shelter in the port of Iskenderun.

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They also play with toy fire engines. "They say... 'We have to go to the earthquake (zone) quickly'," she said.

The combined death toll in Turkey and Syria has climbed over 41,000, and millions are in need of humanitarian aid after being left homeless and without basic amenities.

Children walk in a camp in Turkey after an earthquake on February 6 has killed at least 41,000 people. AFP

Hasibe Ebru, a psychiatrist working on the ferry, said other people were crying a lot and had difficulty sleeping.

"I am telling (the quake survivors) that what they have been experiencing is normal and these symptoms will gradually decrease in a safe environment," she said.

"This really calms them down. They feel relieved when they learn that they are not going crazy, they are actually sane and that this is something any normal person would experience. We are monitoring them all day long."

The long-term mental health effects can only be understood with time as people process trauma in different ways, Ebru said.

The extent of the trauma survivors have experienced is enormous. Some have been pulled from the rubble after hours in the cold and darkness to discover family members have died or are missing, and the busy neighbourhoods where they lived have been reduced to mounds of shattered concrete.

Children settle in on a ferry turned into a makeshift healthcare facility for victims of the deadly earthquake. Reuters

Doctors have said they are treating increasing numbers of patients suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and panic attacks after the quake.

Over 4,300 aftershocks

The death toll from powerful earthquakes that struck on Monday last week has risen to 36,187 in Turkey, the country's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said on Thursday.

AFAD added that more than 4,300 aftershocks had hit the disaster zone since the initial massive tremor.

Quake donations to be paid from Turkish Central Bank profits

The Turkish Central Bank's 30 billion lira ($1.6 billion) donation for areas impacted by the earthquake will be paid from the Central Bank's profits from last year, according to a Central Bank source with the knowledge of the matter.

Turkey launched a donation campaign for the earthquake and raised more than 115 billion lira ($6 billion) from individuals and companies in a live broadcast on Wednesday evening.

The Central Bank transfers its profit from the previous year to the treasury every April.

The annual profit of the bank is not announced yet but economists calculate from preliminary data that the central bank recorded a profit of 40-50 billion lira last year.

Blinken to visit Turkey

In a related development, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel on Sunday to Turkey to discuss support after a massive earthquake, his first trip to the NATO ally which has had turbulent relations with Washington.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a press conference. File photo

Blinken will visit Incirlik air base, through which the United States has shipped aid, and then hold talks in the capital Ankara on "continued US support," State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Wednesday.

The top US diplomat will also take part in the Munich Security Conference, where the Ukraine war and tensions with China will take centre stage, and will visit Turkey's historic rival Greece, a fellow NATO ally.

The United States has flown in some 200 rescuers and contributed an initial $85 million in relief for Turkey, deploying Black Hawk and Chinook helicopters to bring supplies to worst-hit areas.

The visit, which was being planned before the February 6 earthquake that has killed nearly 40,000 people in the country and neighbouring Syria, will be the first by Blinken to Turkey after more than two years in office.