Sema and Ahmed Bulte survived the stifling, subterranean heat by placing stones and bricks on their stomachs to absorb their body temperatures then replacing them when they had warmed. They could barely move and had nothing to drink. We lost our friends. I knew other nurses who died. But my house is okay and my husband is well.
People here are still in shock.
They are not crying, they are not saying anything. They have not yet resumed their lives. Maybe money and jobs are important but at the moment the most important thing is for us just to be alive. By yesterday, those who survived the earthquake that devastated the heavily industrialised region around Izmit were slowly beginning to come to terms with problems of building new lives. In a shift in the mood of the country, the focus has moved from those still under the rubble to those trying to rebuild their lives in the world outside.