Brit's horror hearing people buried under concrete after earthquake killed 9,500

08 February 2023 , 09:34

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Brit's horror hearing people buried under concrete after earthquake killed 9,500

A British software developer who survived the earthquake in Turkey has told The Mirror of his horror hearing people buried alive under the concrete.

Timothy Whiting, 29, has lived in the wider region for the past five years and was visiting Antakya, in the country's south, when twin earthquakes — the first a magnitude 7.8 and the second a 7.5 — hit Turkey and neighbouring Syria.

Entire city blocks were flattened in the city which borders Syria, and as the total death toll has now passed 9,500, the chances of finding survivors are slimming.

The old town in the provincial capital of Hatay was known for its winding cobbled streets, but now, Mr Whiting said, streets are blanketed with concrete, glass and twisted metal. Minarets of mosques have toppled to the floor.

Timothy Whiting (Timothy Whiting)

Whole families were running through the street screaming (Timothy Whiting)

Residents were crushed as they slept before dawn on Monday and the Yorkshire man speaks with anger and confusion at the lack of help from authorities

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"I was in the city for 10 hours and there were no visible search and rescue efforts underway. People were just grabbing the debris from buildings to try and smash up the fallen buildings", he told The Mirror, occasionally pausing when he thinks he feels tremors. "I keep thinking I can feel it again."

Mr Whiting has experienced a few "minor" earthquakes in Turkey before, but nothing on this scale.

Footage showed the room of his hotel obliterated and covered in a film of dust.

He said the best way to describe the sound which first woke him up was "like that first big splash when you jump in a pool." He makes a "boom" sound and waves his arms in the arm.

Photo provided by Tim of the destruction (Timothy Whiting)

The former Oxford University student said: "It was like a whole war had happened in a matter of seconds or minutes.

"I was trying and get out the door and there was just noise everywhere. I couldn't really see anything but I was just very aware of lots of stuff going on around me.

"We came out of the building and it was just a completely different world from the one we'd gone into before."

Whole families were running through the street screaming in their "pink pyjamas", holding lights to try and navigate the rubble which was spilling from all corners.

"When I close my eyes to try and sleep, that one family in their pyjamas is what keeps replaying", he said with closed eyes.

The streets Tim navigated in Antakya (Timothy Whiting)

Whole families were running through the street screaming (Timothy Whiting)

As dawn broke, people were using whatever they could get their hands on to reach those buried. But with little more than hope, their make-shift tools barely made an impact.

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"People were picking up bits of the wrought iron that had fallen down to hit the concrete. It was just absolutely hopeless. There was no one in uniform and I just couldn't believe it.

"Multi-storey blocks were flattened and that was really distressing because you just knew every single block had tonnes of people under," he said.

Hatay's Mayor is from the major opposition party, stoking fears this is why residents have been left to firefight the situation alone.

Mr Whiting was "keen to stress", the area is very densely packed and inhabited by lots of Syrian refugees that "very much feel left behind by Turkey."

Anas Sweid, of British-based charity Care International, died along with his wife and daughter after the collapse of his building in Antakya. His son was found alive and is now orphaned.

Baby Ayse Vera was rescued under the rubble in Hatay (Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Noises were everywhere: "There was one woman that was making the loudest sound, which is the sound that people do at weddings and funerals in the Middle East."

Another was running barefoot through the street screaming: "Get there, my family's gone, they're gone."

He felt all he could do was keep saying in Turkish: "They're coming, they're coming". But they did not come.

More crews apparently began turning up by Tuesday, but reports said most of the people the rescuers pulled from the rubble were already dead.

Pictures from Antakya showed bodies lying on gurneys, or lining the streets in body bags and brightly coloured blankets.

Civilians look for survivors under the rubble of collapsed buildings (AFP via Getty Images)

Any government would struggle to deal with a disaster of this scale, but the region is uniquely ill-equipped to cope and the heartache and grief are only going to grow.

Mr Whiting was keen to explain the guilt he feels at his luck: "These people [locals] have it 10 times worse. I keep feeling physically sick all day, at times I actually thought I was going to be sick. All the sounds keep coming back to me.

"I don't want people to think 'this poor this guy, that's ended up in holiday hell.' The knowledge that there are so many people that are alive, still trapped, that are going to be dead and aren't going to be saved. You just can't imagine what they're going through."

President Erdogan of Turkey said that 13 million people had been affected in the country and he declared a three-month state of emergency in 10 provinces.

Rachel Hagan