More than a week after his home was destroyed in a deadly earthquake in southern Turkey, Mohammad Emin’s body is still covered in dirt and grime.
Like countless other victims of a catastrophe that has killed more than 41,000 people in Turkey and Syria, he is still awaiting a wash, hit by a shortage of clean water which international health bodies say poses a risk to public health.
“We haven’t been able to wash ourselves away from the earthquake,” said Emin, a 21-year-old graphic design student, as he carried flu medicine from the clinic in an open-air stadium that serves as a camp for displaced people in La Kahramanmaras city.
DEATH TOTAL FROM TURKEY-SYRIA EARTHQUAKE WILL PROBABLY EXCEED 56,000, SAYS EMERGENCY AID HEAD
With much of the region’s sanitation infrastructure damaged or rendered unusable by Monday’s two magnitude 7.8 and 7.6 earthquakes, Turkish health authorities face a daunting task in trying to ensure that survivors, many of whom are homeless, remain free from disease.
A doctor at the clinic, Akin Hacioglu, said between 15 and 30 doctors were running the facility, the only one of its kind in the camp, which serves up to 10,000 people during the day.
Debris is seen in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Hatay, Turkey on February 15, 2023. Turkey is facing a post-earthquake shortage of clean water that can also lead to disease outbreaks. (REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne)
They are offering tetanus vaccines to residents who request them and distributing hygiene kits with shampoo, deodorant, sanitary pads and wipes, Hacioglu said.
But Emin said there were no showers at or near the pitch and the stadium’s six toilets were not enough to meet the demand.
Arif Kirici, 42, has taken refuge in the same stadium since he pulled himself and his mother out of their collapsed house on the day of the earthquake.
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: A WEEK OF HORRORS AND HEROSIS UP CLOSE IN THE TURKISH EARTHQUAKE ZONE
He also said he was unable to shower or, like many other camp residents Reuters spoke to, change clothes.
In the city of Antakya, further south towards the Syrian border, more portable toilets are evident than in the first days after the earthquake, but many residents say that even more are needed.
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Batyr Berdyklychev, the World Health Organization’s representative in Turkey, said water shortages “increase the risk of waterborne diseases and communicable disease outbreaks.”
WHO is working with local authorities to step up monitoring of waterborne diseases, seasonal influenza and COVID-19 among displaced people, it added.
