Gaziantep, Turkey – For a lot of Syrians dwelling in Gaziantep in southeastern Turkey, the earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria on Monday have woke up traumatic recollections of the 12-year warfare of their homeland.
Gaziantep is about 33km (20 miles) east of the epicentre of the preliminary magnitude 7.8 quake, which devastated the town and surrounding areas. Many survivors have misplaced their houses and live in makeshift shelters in open areas.
“We thought that dwelling on the opposite aspect of the border would convey us to security,” stated Ahmad al-Rifai, 21, initially from Aleppo. “However we discovered ourselves reliving previous traumas.”
Syrians in Turkey have skilled precarious financial and social circumstances since they began arriving within the nation within the early days of the warfare. In Gaziantep, many settled in poorer areas of the town, and after this week’s catastrophe, lots of their houses are unsafe.
With rescue and help operations delayed, they’re tenting within the open in locations reminiscent of squares and parks. They collect in circles round fires, sitting and sleeping on mattresses on the bottom below heavy blankets.
Some survivors informed Al Jazeera the scenario was giving them flashbacks of being displaced in the course of the warfare in Syria. They describe a reawakening of signs of post-traumatic stress dysfunction, the worry of shedding all the things once more and an lack of ability to sleep.
Feeling the partitions of their houses tremble and the bottom below their toes shake resembled heavy shelling they skilled in Syria, they stated. Once they wakened, they thought they have been again to Syria.