Devastated town waits for government to show up 11 days after quake

The residents of a small town extremely hard hit by the earthquake in Turkey told mainstream broadcaster Fox Turkey on Thursday that no government agency nor any government official have arrived after entire neighborhoods were reduced to rubble by the quake on 6 February.

The survivors in Yaylakonak, a mountain town in the province of Adiyaman, told Fox Turkey's reporter during a live broadcast that over 100 townsfolk perished under the rubble, that they have no shelter except for a school building, and that they are in urgent need of tents or container homes, heating and basic food items.

The mayor of Yaylakonak had told Medyascope on Saturday that 280 houses out of 300 were destroyed by the earthquake, and that half of the remaining 20 houses received severe damage and were uninhabitable.

Mayor Abuzer Aydin said that a search and rescue team dispatched by the municipality of Mersin arrived on the day the quake struck, and that the villagers helped the team of twelve to pull the dead from under the rubble.

Noting that no team of Disaster and Emergency Management (AFAD) or Turkish Red Crescent have yet arrived, he added:

"Our immediate need is tents, cleaning items, dry food items and animal feed. Many livestock have been killed but we still have some left."