A report from the town of Samandag

A report from the town of Samandag
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Neither rescuers nor essential items like tents, mobile toilets, hygiene items and drinking water have reached the town of Samandag nearly five days after the quake.

Almost five days after the earthquake, the people in the town of Samandag in Turkey's southern border province of Hatay are still not provided basic needs, T24's Hazar Dost reported on Friday.

All aid deliveries are placed in the open space around a cultural center and one may see there hundreds of parcels stacked, Dost said, adding that most of the content are dresses.

He noted that what is urgently needed in the town are mobile toilets, tents, hygiene items, sleeping bags, blankets and drinking water.

One of the survivors Serap Kavasoglu told T24 that she and other residents managed to rescue three victims from under the rubble by their own means, and two died after they were taken to the hospital.

Stressing that the Disaster and Emergency Management (AFAD) and the Turkish Red Crescent have been ineffective in their efforts, she said that it was essentially volunteers who carried out the search and rescue.

Another survivor, Coskun Gezici, said that they have not yet been provided tents and food or water by officials, and that they have now started setting up tents they provided by their own means.

Habip Yapar, who lost his parents in the earthquake, said that there are still people alive under the rubble, and what they urgently need is not food but expert search and rescue teams.

Dost noted that the only tent with AFAD's label at the town square was being used as the "police center."