Ghaleb stands in a small park facing what once was the biggest hotel in the heart of the Turkish city of Kahramanmaras that was devastated by last week’s earthquake.
He watches silently and anxiously as vehicles lift the rubble of the hotel that was one of the city’s landmarks. He is searching for his brother who is lost in the ruin with nine of his colleagues.
Several locals are waiting anxiously like Ghaleb. His brother Khaled was unlucky that night. He worked as a major money exchanger in Istanbul. He was in Kahramanmaras to train locals in the business. Eight of his colleagues were also with him.
He had arrived at the hotel and was to stay the night and begin work the next day. The earthquake struck that night and he and his colleagues did not survive.
Eyes fixed on the excavators, Ghaleb said he has lost hope that his brother will be found alive. “I want to take him home with me,” he remarked to Asharq Al-Awsat.
On the other side of the hotel, Syrians gathered in front of destroyed houses. They are awaiting news about relatives and friends that are buried under the rubble of two buildings.
“We found three, there are still four more,” said one of them.
A man at the scene said he came all the way from Kayseri city in the heart of Anatolia in search of his brother and his family, who are lost under the rubble. He points to a teary-eyed man: “This is my brother. He is searching for his wife.”
The man told Asharq Al-Awsat that he also lives in Kayseri and that his wife, Zeinab, was visiting Kahramanmaras the night the earthquake struck. She was visiting her family for the first time since they got married and she died with them.
“They told us that there are no survivors under the rubble, but we are not leaving without them. We have been here since the earthquake struck and we will not leave without them,” he stressed.
