Fredericton man loses family members in Turkey earthquake, others living in car | 24CA News

Ahmed Hallaq’s mom was attending to her morning prayers within the household’s house in central Turkey final week when she noticed the ceiling lamps begin to sway.

She closed her eyes and went again to her prayers, Hallaq mentioned, which is when she felt the bottom beneath her sway and heard a hissing noise.

She snapped her eyes open and shouted out to her youngsters: “Zalzala!” — earthquake in Arabic.

“We are used to hearing bombs fall and feeling the ground under us shake,” mentioned Hallaq, who fled the Syrian struggle in 2012 and now lives in Fredericton. “But this was different.”

Hallaq was visiting his household within the Turkish metropolis of Kayseri when the earthquake hit on Feb. 6. The 7.8-magnitude quake and highly effective aftershocks affected 10 provinces in Turkey which are dwelling to some 13.5 million folks, in addition to a big space in northwest Syria that’s dwelling to hundreds of thousands.

The dying toll, which has eclipsed 35,500 — almost 32,000 of these in Turkey — consists of his household. Hallaq misplaced his 13-year-old cousin and aunt within the earthquake, he mentioned in an interview Tuesday.

“They were sleeping when the apartment came crashing down,” he mentioned in Arabic and English with assist from his good friend, Mohammad Al Khateeb, who translated for him. Al Khateeb, who’s from Syria, got here to Canada in January 2016.

“They were taken to hospital,” Hallaq mentioned. “They died in the hospital.”

He rubbed his face. One of his different aunts, he mentioned, won’t make it. “She is very badly injured.”

Hallaq, alongside along with his spouse and two youngsters, moved in 2016 from Turkey to Fredericton, the place he owns a downtown tailoring business.
He returned to Turkey final month to take a look at designs and supplies so he might broaden his business, and to see his mom, whom he had final seen about seven years in the past.

On that fateful Monday, hours after the primary quake, a second one hit — round 2:30 p.m.

“This one was much stronger,” Hallaq mentioned, chewing his fingernails. “That second hit was really, really bad. The whole family had to leave the apartment and sit in the street.”

2:24Turkey earthquakes: Relief efforts transitioning from rescues to restoration

His household have been residing in a automotive for the reason that earthquake hit, Hallaq mentioned.

Hallaq unlocked his telephone and confirmed footage of him along with his household in a park — with snow on the bottom — close to his residences in Turkey, the place he spent his days together with them after the earthquake. Hallaq has returned to Fredericton, whereas his 14 relations are spending their day in that park or of their automotive. They discovered a room the place they’ll spend nights _ a minimum of within the quick time period.

Another image exhibits his cement, grey-and-white house complicated with a deep crack working up its backbone, seemingly splitting the constructing into two.

“There’s my apartment,” he mentioned, pointing on the image.

He described the town as a pile of rubble, which he mentioned introduced again reminiscences of areas flattened by bombs and explosions in war-torn Syria.

Hallaq was joined in his store by his co-worker, Abdulkadir Bashlamuni, who got here to Canada from Aleppo, Syria, about two years in the past. Bashlamuni mentioned his 4 sisters and their households are out on the streets, residing in a automotive after deep cracks shaped of their house constructing.

“They are safe from the earthquake,” Bashlamuni mentioned. “But how safe are they in Syria?”

He worries about them however mentioned he feels helpless.

Hallaq echoed these emotions.

“When my mother asks me what I ate, I don’t tell her,” Hallaq mentioned. “Because she doesn’t even have anything to eat. Some days she just gets one meal — what relief agencies give. A survivor package to keep them alive.”

Money is working out and aid is in brief provide, he mentioned.

Hallaq mentioned he’s hoping the Canadian authorities permits his household to maneuver to Canada. “We moved from Syria to Turkey to escape the war. We invested everything we have and now it’s all gone,” he mentioned.

“Now, they sleep in a room at night that they found. They are waiting for something, but they have no idea how long to wait and how many things to wait for. It’s really hard to think sometimes.
You know what I mean?”

This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed Feb. 15, 2023.

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