Church in Historic Antioch Prepares to Rebuild from Turkey Quake Devastation
Tragic news from yet again from Turkey. A third earthquake has struck Southwest Turkey, leaving more massive destruction in its wake and millions of people in shock and fear. Well, once again, the race is on to rescue the survivors and so far at least eight people are confirmed dead and hundreds more are trapped in the rubble. Chris Mitchell reports on this ongoing tragedy. The 6.3 quake hit the city of Hatay. Already one of Turkey's hardest hit areas.
Many buildings, weakened by the previous earthquakes and aftershocks, crumbled. CBN's Operation Blessing International Relief Director Diego Traverso filed this report moments after it struck. It felt really strong and everything collapsed again. The electricity, everyone just went out where I hit on the street, serving the people that is coming here. We're distributing solar lamps. We start with the medical clinic right on the spot so we can serve the people here that is under so much distress. Also some meals, we're making some hot soup right now on the spot distributing blankets.
It got really cold right now again. The city of Hatay is also known as Antioch, that played a prominent role in the life of the Apostle Paul and served as a foundation of the early church. CBN News visited the city just days ago. Behind me is the city of Antioch, devastated by the February 6 earthquake. In the New Testament, the Book of Acts, chapter 11, it says that in Antioch, the followers of Jesus were first called Christians. Like many areas throughout this region, Antioch took an especially hard hit. You see scenes of devastation like this all over the earthquake zone, but this particular site is unique because this was the ministry of a local church serving their neighborhood for 23 years.
Pastor Ilmas told CBN News about that terrifying night. I just can't find the words to describe it, and I don't think you can really understand what happened at that time. There was a deep noise from the ground, and it wasn't ending, and it was a long time. Both my husband and I just looked at each other and hugged each other, and we started praying. Within moments, they rushed outside. And then when we came out and completely outside, and I looked and I realized that all these buildings were collapsed, and that was so painful because this has been our ministry to our neighbors. For years, she ministered to about 50 neighborhood children, teaching them the Bible.
I don't love lips and a carpet. And now they are all gone. I've lost all of them. Some of them died, and some of them are just spread around the country or need medical help, and they can't live here anymore, or they have moved to other cities, and I've lost them all. Pastor Elmas Church was destroyed too. Nothing is left, and this has been our church for 23 years. All those years of love and caring for everyone, everything is gone completely.
Still, Pastor Elmas has a positive outlook. There's no more Antioch left, but there will be a new Antioch. There will be a new church, and God has already given us the building for that. So that will be the new church, and there's no damage on that church. True. The region even more devastated physically and traumatized emotionally. Gordon? Chris, tell us what it's like to actually be there in the middle of these aftershocks.
What concerns are you having going forward and the people having with all of these aftershocks and all the continuing destruction? Well, first of all, Gordon, is that there'll be more aftershocks and more earthquakes. I'm not sure anybody was expecting something this major right now. You already have thousands of weakened buildings, the ones that haven't collapsed, and this makes them even more weakened and danger of collapsing in another future aftershock or earthquake. And also, Gordon, that the people of this region will be more weakened. They've gone through so much, and this is just another blow to them physically and psychologically and emotionally. And by the way, Gordon, when you're there on the ground to see the size of this earthquake zone, about 300 miles long, we drove for hours and saw unbelievable devastation from one end to the other. By far the worst thing that I have ever seen.
Well, tell us about the people there. What are they going through and what are their needs? Well, they're going through post-traumatic stress. Everyone we talked to that went through the earthquake and the areas that were very damaged and the ones that weren't so damaged, they thought they would die. And so millions of people, they're in shock, they're afraid, they're in fear, they don't want to go back into the buildings for fear of more earthquakes. We talked to our translator last night, we were back here in Israel, and she said, everybody is out in the street. And the fear is especially true for the children. Another thing is grief.
Somebody told us the nation is grieving right now. They've lost loved ones, family members. There was a story we had, just the second day we were there, of a family watching a recovery effort, looking for their grandson, the grandchild, and a daughter and a son-in-law. And this is happening millions of times, over and over. The lack of essentials, food, water, clothing, and how can people help? They can pray for the people of Turkey. And practically, they can help by supporting groups like Operation Blessing, that we had the privilege to be on the ground and see what they do. Well, tell us how Operation Blessing is helping and what's the impact it's having on people.
Well, I think they have a great impact on the people they're able to help. First of all, it shows people they care. And that means so much to people that really have gone through such a traumatic experience emotionally, that somebody cares about them, that they're not abandoned. It can provide basics like food, blankets, medical care. Also, we did a story on pure drinking water, which is so important in a disaster like this. And I would think, Gordon, most of all, to bring people hope that are facing what appears to be a hopeless situation. And those all practical things, emotional things, spiritual things, they're making a difference in the lives of the people that Operation Blessing is touching.
Even last night, right after the earthquake, they were there on the ground providing the soup, the solar lanterns and the blankets, and just being there for people during this traumatic, desperate situation. Well, Chris, thanks for the report. And for you at home, thank you for your support for Operation Blessing. If you haven't given, I invite you to do it right now. These aftershocks, it's hard to call a six-point earthquake and aftershock, it's an earthquake. These earthquakes seem to keep coming and the people are living in fear. And when you talk about 300 miles of destruction, it's just incredible what's happening there.
And we want to help people. If that's you, if you wanna help the people in need, give us a call, 1-800-700-7000. Say, I wanna give to the Operation Blessing Disaster Relief Fund. You can write to us at CBN Center, Virginia Beach, Virginia, 23463, or you can text O-B-D-R to 71777. We obviously can't take care of 300 miles of devastation, but we can take care of the parts that we can reach. And so we are doing it in your name when you give. So call us now, 1-800-700-7000.
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