The Gez family from Heerhugowaard is very worried about their grandfather who lives in the heavily affected earthquake area in Turkey. Unable to contact him. “The whole phone line is down.”
Üzeyir Gez is imam at the Mimar Sinan Mosque in Heerhugowaard. He and his family have many relatives living in the hard-hit province of Hatay, about 150 kilometers from the epicenter. “A large part of our family is still there,” daughter Yasemin tells NH News as a translator.
“Fortunately, my grandmother is okay, but we can’t get hold of grandpa. The entire telephone line in the region is down.” The family is very concerned about him. “I just want to hear his voice, so we know he’s safe.”
Completely destroyed
An uncle of Yasemin lives in western Izmir. He occasionally manages to make contact with the family of Üzeyir and Yasemin. For example, they know that her aunt’s house has been completely destroyed. “Fortunately she is unharmed, she was able to get away in time. We did not speak to her, but my uncle did.”
Two major quakes
In the night from Sunday to Monday, the southern part of Turkey and Syria were hit by a strong earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 on the Richter scale. A second quake followed on Monday. It was also very strong (7.7).
According to the authorities in both countries, thousands have already died and the number is expected to rise further.
Injury
The family has two houses in Hatay. They have not been spared either, although the damage seems to be not too bad so far. “For example, there are fault lines in the walls and floor. Everything has also fallen out of the kitchen cupboards. The damage is still limited, but of course we do not know whether it will remain that way. There are still aftershocks.”
“Because of the poor telephone connection, it is not possible to speak to people in the area. Our uncle tries to reach people to see how things are going there, but it is very difficult,” Yasemin explains.
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