More than 70,000 people were received in this region in southern Turkey within a week. However, earthquake survivors are aware that this shelter is only temporary.
Long tables lined with toys, biscuits and cold drinks await them upon arrival at the airport in Antalya, a coastal city in south-west Turkey on the Mediterranean coast. The victims of the February 6 earthquake that devastated parts of the south of the country as well as the north of Syria are received there by volunteers. With its beaches, cliffs and climate popular with holidaymakers, Antalya is a top tourist destination in Turkey. But since the disaster, the region has seen an influx of increasing numbers of earthquake survivors. In total, more than 72,000 people have already been able to find accommodation in the province, according to the authorities, who rely on the many hotels in the area. Among the first to respond is the Özkaymak Falez Hotel, a five-star hotel now housing 96 victims.
“Just under an hour after the earthquake, our network opened rooms in hotels in Mersin, Adana, Van and Diyarbakir,” said Hüseyin Çiçek, CEO of Özkaymak Hotel Group. The solidarity then spread to facilities further west, including this imposing seafront complex. The first “guests,” as the manager calls the victims he is hosting, were a group of teenagers in Hatay province who were taking part in a nearby martial arts competition from Antalya attended the time of the earthquake. “We said to ourselves that these young people would have lost everything, their house, maybe family members,” says Hüseyin Çiçek, “there was no question that they would return there, in the middle of the rubble.