Turkey Shifts to Post-quake Reconstruction, Getting Aid to Those in Need 

The Media Line's Mohammad Al-Kassim reports from a scene of devastation in Gaziantep, where the focus is clearing buildings destroyed in the earthquakes and helping the hundreds of thousands left homeless or unable to return to unsafe homes

[Nurdağı, Gaziantep Province] Three weeks after the devastating earthquakes that wrought disaster on both sides of the Turkey-Syria border, killing more than 45,000 people, the Turkish emphasis is on getting aid to those who are exposed to the bitter winter cold. 

Turkey has shifted fully into reconstruction mode, clearing away the rubble of the buildings made unsafe by the 7.8-magnitude temblor that struck in Gaziantep Province in the middle of the night and the 7.7-magnitude quake that followed nine hours later in nearby Kahramanmaraş Province.  The mission now is to remove the debris and build new homes for those who need them. 

International aid has poured into the country, bringing some small relief to those left with nothing after their homes collapsed on February 6 and those who live in the 170,000 buildings deemed too unsafe to inhabit.

Everything from shoes to medical supplies have arrived in bulk, while volunteers serve hot meals three times daily among the tents in the camps set up to offer shelter. 

Compounding the desperation is the fear that another massive quake will strike the region. This is exacerbated by the repeated aftershocks, some enormous in scale, that have hit almost every three minutes since the first deadly quake changed millions of lives forever.