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Journalism of Courage
After the devastating earthquake struck Turkey and Syria on February 6, heart-wrenching images and videos of the tragedy have been doing the rounds on social media. While many people were rescued, several lost their lives under the rubble.
A group of volunteers have tried to lessen the pain of the tragedy by fixing red balloons over the earthquake debris, as a tribute to kids who lost their lives in the calamity. On Monday, BBC shared a video from Turkey’s Hatay that showed a group of men sticking red balloons to the metal wires that were sticking out of the destroyed buildings.
Oguen Sever Okur, Balloons Project Leader, explains their gesture and says, “I wanted this activity to be called ‘my last present to children’. We are still giving presents to children in Hatay but we wanted to fulfil our last duty to these angels and we are carrying out this activity with balloons.” Okur adds, “Believe me, every time we tie a balloon my heart hurts. We have tied 1,000-1,500 balloons so far but we will hopefully continue until we reach all parts of the city, until we reach every home of the children who lost their lives.”
So far more than 43, 360 people have lost their lives in Turkey and Syria. An Associated Press report said that the 7.8 magnitude earthquake was the deadliest disaster that ever occurred in Turkey’s modern history. However, despite the catastrophic impact of the earthquake, many stories of miraculous rescues have come out of Syria and Turkey. Earlier this month, the Associated Press reported that a newborn was rescued from the rubble in Syria with her umbilical cord still connected to her mother, who was dead.
