Never traveled by train before, Turkish earthquake victim takes shelter in carriage

Şengül Kurtarıcı, one of the millions of people affected by the Feb. 6 twin earthquakes that hit southern Türkiye, has taken shelter in a train which she has not traveled with before. The 44-year-old woman had to leave her heavily damaged apartment in Hatay's İskenderun district after magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 earthquakes struck the region last month. Kurtarıcı, who has taken shelter in the train carriage with her husband and son, also welcomes guests who come to see her there. 'We got up when it started to shake. Then I thought I would call out to my son. When the shaking got violent, my husband and son rushed to the kitchen while I run to the living room. Each of us went somewhere. When the tremor stopped, we left the building,' she said. The train carriage has become their new home after the earthquakes, Kurtarıcı said. 'We're sleeping here, it is fine for now. It's better than staying outside. A lot of people got sick outside. I have not traveled by train before. We came here for the first time. This is our home. It is hard to live here but it is still better than living outside.' 'I DON'T FEEL THE FEAR I HAD BACK AT HOME' The train, he said, is safer than their home now. 'At least we do not feel the fear we had back at home.' Cücük said local authorities provide food and serve dinner in the evening. He also said they 'have become family' with the people they have just met on the train. More than 45,000 people have been killed in the two quakes that shook Türkiye on Feb. 6, according to officials. The strong tremors, which were centered in Kahramanmaraş province, have affected about 13.5 million people across 10 other provinces: Hatay, Gaziantep, Adıyaman, Malatya, Adana, Diyarbakır, Kilis, Osmaniye, Şanlıurfa, and Elazığ.