By Honorary Reporter Volga Serin Suleymanoglu from Turkiye (Turkey)

The 7.7-magnitude earthquake that hit the Turkish city of Kahramanmaras on Feb. 6 at 4:17 a.m. affected 10 cities in the country. A second quake of 7.6 magnitude that hit at 1:24 p.m. on the same day had my nation fighting nature for its life.

The cities where the earthquakes occurred were in the eastern Anatolia region of Turkiye. Though earthquakes are hardly new to the nation, the latest ones present an extraordinary situation. 

I was going to visit the nation's capital of Ankara on the week of the quake to attend a course on dancheong, a traditional style of decorative coloring in Korea used on wooden buildings and artifacts, at the Korean Cultural Center. I woke up on Monday morning to hear news of the earthquake. When I looked at the damage, it seemed more like an apocalyptic movie than a natural disaster given the thousands of casualties and destroyed buildings in 10 cities.

Aftershocks occurred in Ankara, and trains headed there were canceled as the government focused all resources to quake-hit areas. Thus I had to cancel my trip to Ankara as well.

My city of Izmir is located on the opposite side of the Anatolia region. After hearing about the quake, I contacted my friend Asema Orgen, who lives in the quake-affected city of Adana. 

"It was indescribably bad. At that moment, I thought of my family, especially my mother, rather than my own life. At the time of the earthquake, I was so afraid that something would happen to my family," she said. "Everyone is outside. We take turns sleeping at night. A lot of aid is going out, especially to regions with major destruction."

From Sanliurfa, another city where the quake caused great destruction, I received information from the teachers of Seoul Middle School in the city's Harran district that the school's teachers, students and their families were safe. The Turkish government declared seven days of mourning and a state of emergency in 10 cities affected by the earthquake.

The country, people and rescue teams from other countries are united, with 53,317 search-and-rescue officers from Turkiye and abroad working together. People in other cities are struggling to secure food and shelter.

Eastern Anatolia is cold and snowy now. Because of the danger of a natural gas leak, the people there are having difficulty starting fires to stay warm. My grandmother is knitting hats and scarves at home for quake-affected children.

The earthquake has made transportation on highways difficult as aid often arrives late. Hatay Airport in Hatay Province was closed because the runway floor was split.

My Turkish friends who work as interpreters waited for the Korean search-and-rescue team due to arrive in Turkiye. For my part, I'm collecting donations on behalf of my country and making announcements on the situation through social media, and plan to visit quake zones to perform volunteer work.

Interest in Korean pop culture and other aspects of Korea is huge in Turkiye. For this reason, support from Korea, our brother country, has impressed both our elders who experienced the Korean War and the younger generation. Korea has sent volunteer rescue workers to my country and the Korean Embassy in Ankara has raised funds to help our cities recover. I'm very proud to be a liaison between both countries as an Honorary Reporter and deliver news.

  
kalhong617@korea.kr

*This article is written by a Korea.net Honorary Reporter. Our group of Honorary Reporters are from all around the world, and they share with Korea.net their love and passion for all things Korean.