Young survivor of the Hatay earthquake spoke at the UN: 14 thousand buildings were destroyed in my city

Young Hatay earthquake survivor Kılınç spoke at the “Sendai Framework Interim High-Level Review Meeting” held at the UN General Assembly.

Explaining that he came to Hatay to visit his family before the earthquakes, Kılınç said, “At 04:17, I woke up from my deep sleep with very strong shaking. My family and I managed to escape outside.” saying.

Kılınç stated that he felt very powerless and helpless at the time of the earthquake, and that they were racing against time in search of a safe zone.

Stating that they began to see the destruction in the city with the sunrise, Kılınç said, “14 thousand buildings were destroyed in my city. Imagine that one in five buildings in Manhattan collapsed. Not just my city, 10 other cities were affected. The area affected by earthquakes is even bigger than some of your countries.” he said.

Kilinc said that after the earthquakes, fires and floods hit his city.

Noting that transportation was very difficult in the first place after the earthquakes due to the magnitude of the destruction, Kılınç said, “This situation made it very difficult for the authorities to provide immediate assistance. Seeing aid organizations and people from foreign countries together with the authorities raised our spirits. On behalf of all the victims of the earthquake, I would like to express my gratitude to those who supported our country in these difficult days.” he said.

kilinc said:

“I wanted to share my story with you so you can better understand how a survivor feels and experiences. I hope the progress he makes here leads to fewer casualties in the world.”

“DIASTS KNOW BORDERS”

Csaba Körösi, President of the 77th UN General Assembly, thanked Kılınç and said: “Thanks to the first-hand information he provided, we have a lot to learn about identifying risks and gaps and what to do for a brighter future. resilient”. he said.

Körösi said: “As the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria and the hurricanes in Myanmar and Bangladesh reveal, disasters know no borders. They are also connected to each other.” saying.

Expressing that the Sendai Framework is the first in this field and a kind of agreement ahead of its time, Körösi recalled that within the scope of this framework, member states decided to focus on addressing risks before disasters.

Noting that the progress made in the 8 years since the framework was signed in 2015 was not enough, Körösi drew attention to the fact that the number of people affected by disasters increased 80 times in this time period.

Noting the importance of improving scientific capacities and risk management, Körösi said: “In this way, our societies can more easily cope with the shocks caused by disasters. I ask you to renew the multilateral system to prepare for a new environment of risk”. he used his statements.

Within the scope of the meeting, the Member States also approved by consensus a political declaration on disaster risk reduction.

MARCO SENDAI

The Sendai Framework was adopted at the Third United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction held in Sendai, Japan on March 18, 2015.

By 2030, the Framework aims to “significantly reduce the risk of disasters and the loss of life, livelihoods, health, and economic, physical, social, cultural, and environmental assets of individuals, businesses, communities, and countries due to disasters.” . (AA)