Temperatures in the quake-stricken Turkish city of Gaziantep plunged to minus five degrees Celsius early Thursday but thousands of families spent the night in cars and makeshift tents too scared or banned from returning to their homes. Parents walked the streets of the city close to the epicentre of Monday’s earthquake that has left more than 12,000 dead carrying their children in blankets because it was warmer than sitting in a tent. “When we sit down, it is painful, and I fear for anyone who is trapped under the rubble in this,” said Melek Halici, who wrapped her two-year-old daughter in a blanket as they watched rescuers working late into the night. “Eventually we will have to go to the tent, but I don’t want to,” she added. “I can’t bear the cold, but nor can I think about going back to our apartment.”

City authorities have barred thousands of residents from going back to apartment blocks that are considered at risk from aftershocks shaking the region each day. Around the Halicis, smoke from dozens of fires filled the night air. Supermarkets and other businesses gave wooden pallets to families to burn. Some people have found sanctuary with neighbours or relatives. Some have left the region. But many have nowhere to go. Gyms, mosques, schools and some stores have opened up at night. But beds are still at a premium and thousands spend the nights in cars with engines running to provide heat. “I have no choice,” said Suleyman Yanik, as he sat with one child playing with his car steering wheel and his wife and another child asleep on the back seat.

“The smell is horrible, but we cannot go home,” he said. Restaurant manager Burhan Cagdas said he had been sleeping in a car since Monday’s quake because of his family’s “psychological” opposition to returning home. Many families have complained about the government’s handling of the quake relief operation. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan admitted during a trip to the region Wednesday that there had been “shortcomings” but insisted that the scope of the disaster was too big for any government to handle. Poor families who have been camping around Gaziantep’s 6th-century castle, badly damaged by the quake, said authorities have done nothing for them. The families have built makeshift homes with tarpaulin and wood thrown away by others. “They could at least have given us some tents,” said Ahmet Huseyin.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-INP