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Friday, Feb 20, 2026

Quake survivors in southern Turkey determined to rebuild their lives

Quake survivors in southern Turkey determined to rebuild their lives

Any hopes of finding more survivors of the earthquakes in southern Turkey and neighbouring Syria are fading rapidly.
It's hard to give an accurate figure on just how many people were killed after the disaster on February 6, but the latest estimates put the death toll at over 48,000 and rising as more bodies are uncovered.

13 million people have been affected in some way by the quakes in southern Turkey, many of them made homeless, their houses and apartments either collapsed or too dangerous to return to.

Yet life has to go on for those who survived, even though it is hard when they have lost loved ones and perhaps their home as well.

Serkan Sincan is a business owner in the southern Turkish city of Antakya. He spoke to Euronews correspondent Anelise Borges.

“This street will be open in one week maximum two weeks," he told her. "The shops will be open - you’ll see.

"It’s been 13 days… and people will die in deprem (in an earthquake), in traffic, or at home… the catastrophe is finished right now. In Islam, you can be in grief for just three days. After three days, finish. Life needs to come back again."

Although Serkam didn't lose family members in the quake, he says he's scarred by what he lost, good friends, for whom he says he cries inside.

But he says he's determined to stay in Antakya on behalf of those who lost their lives and he'll try to persuade others to stay too.

"The city needs them," he says.

You can watch Anelise Borges's full report from Antakya by clicking on the video above.
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