Syrian refugees starting over in Turkey are hit hard by the earthquake

Transcript

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Turkey shelters millions of Syrian refugees who fled the war at home. And the majority live in the earthquake zone in southern cities near the Syrian border. Assalah Shikhani is one of them. A teacher by trade, she works with the Karam Foundation that helps other Syrian refugees in their new homes. But now the lives they were building in this new place are shattered. Like tens of thousands of others, Shikhani is now left homeless. And the pain and rawness of Shikhani's story is going to be difficult to listen to. But what you're about to hear, it's the story of countless people across southern Turkey and in Syria right now. Shikhani starts with the moment the ground began to shake.

ASSALAH SHIKHANI: I heard a big noise. Earthquake begins. I put my daughters under the table. Everything fall down on us. So no electricity. It's still darkness. I tried to make my daughters out of the building. So there is a small hole. We make all the kids out one by one, by one by one. And it was a heavy rain - heavy, heavy, heavy rain - and cold. So I take all my daughters and my brother's wife and his kids, my dad, my mom, to the park. And then we back with my brother to make my two aunts - they are old - out of the building. So we put them on our back and take them out. But when we out, I don't see the rest of the family. We don't know where they are...

FADEL: Yeah.

SHIKHANI: ...With no hijab, with no shoes. Just with hijab on, I was running and shouting with the names of my daughters. Where are you? Where are you?

FADEL: Did you find them? Did you...

SHIKHANI: I find them. Yes, I find them, finally, alhamdulillah. They stayed with...

FADEL: Alhamdulillah.

SHIKHANI: Yeah. They were - Turkish people, they are very good with us. They took the kids and put them close to the fire because it was very cold. They are very wet and trembling with no shoes.

FADEL: They're in an open park. It's freezing. They have no shoes. She doesn't have her hijab. She finds her mom, then her dad. And then the ground begins to shake again.

SHIKHANI: If you are on the ground, you feel that the ground is walking. It's shaking. It's shaking. And you do - our world is shaking. We were very, very worried. And all the kids, you know, they are crying. They need milk. There is no milk, no blankets. We stayed one day out, nobody there, as a ghost city, as a ghost city. No - we don't have phones. We don't know what's happened. Many of kids under the ground. No, we aren't able to - they died

FADEL: I'm so sorry.

SHIKHANI: Many of them, they died. They died.

FADEL: Her two uncles' families where to take her because the hospital are gone. A mother of three was crushed by a wall. There was no where to take her because the hospital collapsed. She died in the car where they sheltered.

SHIKHANI: She has died and stayed in the car two days because the hospital is off. The hospital is damaged. And it could collapse totally. She still died with us in the car.

FADEL: Oh, my gosh. Assalah, you shouldn't have to go through this. How old are your girls?

SHIKHANI: I have 5 years old and I have 14 years old.

FADEL: She and her family sought shelter at a makeshift camp. At first, they were given a tent.

SHIKHANI: We came yesterday at 4. And he said, OK, I will give you a tent. I stay two hours in the cold with my daughters. Then he says, oh, I'm so sorry. There is no where for you. Then he put the three families - they have only seven people. They put them in the camp, in the tent. And he left me with my daughters out. I stayed in the car yesterday here.

FADEL: Oh, my God.

SHIKHANI: And today, again, I went to the camp with my family. We are 12 women and eight kids with us. And we have babies. They said, OK.

FADEL: Is there anyone providing aid, providing blankets, providing shelter? Is there anywhere to get help?

SHIKHANI: No, nothing. In Antakya, nothing here, nothing.

FADEL: The Turkish city of Antakya was ravaged by the quake.

SHIKHANI: We don't see any people. In Antakya, we don't see any people. Even we don't know what's happened. We don't know the news. We don't know where we have to go. There is no police, no rescue teams, no emergencies. We - even for medical issues, we don't have centers. Or we don't have nobody to talk to us. Nobody tell us what we will do. We stayed two days in this park - two days.

FADEL: So Assalah says the people stranded in the park searched for food on their own.

SHIKHANI: What the people did, they go - they went to the markets. They went to the doors. They lock it and take out everything inside just to eat.

FADEL: Oh.

SHIKHANI: We forced to do that. We forced to go to the market.

FADEL: You have - you need food for your family.

SHIKHANI: Yeah, we forced to do that, you know? For toilets, there is no place. In front of each other - we do it in front of each other.

FADEL: I'm so sorry, Assalah.

SHIKHANI: We do it in front of each other.

FADEL: Your whole life is about helping people, you know? You're a teacher at a school for refugees. You had to leave your home already in Syria because of war.

SHIKHANI: Yes.

FADEL: Have you been able to reach any organizations to tell them where you are so they can come and help you?

SHIKHANI: I have many of my friends. Now I called some organizations. Please, I told them, I'm trying to support myself. I said, can we support each other, because other people, they need support? I wait that - I can manage myself by myself. But when - what's happened today with us and kick us out, I called my organization - please, I need help. I don't - I'm not able. I'm so tired now, I can't go anywhere. I'm so tired.

FADEL: Assalah works for an aid organization, the Karam Foundation. At first, that helps refugees like her. She teaches in one of their schools. At first, she thought she could manage on her own so they could help others. But she's cold. She has nothing. And no help has come.

SHIKHANI: I don't have anything, even my cards, even any money. I don't have anything. So now they will come to take us to Reyhanli. It's not safe, but at least it's better than here. Up to now, people under the ground, nobody take them out. Please, let the world know. Nobody, nobody, take them out.

FADEL: Yeah.

SHIKHANI: Nobody. Nobody take them out, nobody. Antakya is a ghost city, ghost city. Nothing there, nothing there, no life at all.

FADEL: Right now, there are millions of people that will be listening to you, that are listening to you, if you want to say something about how people can help, what people can do, what you need.

SHIKHANI: Really, as a Syrian refugee, who flees since 12 years ago and start life again from zero, we don't care for anything, not for building, not for clothes, nothing, just rescue our lives as refugees, just rescue our lives. We don't have anything. We have lost people under the ground. Even we don't have money. Just rescue us as refugees here. We are at the weak point as refugees here.

FADEL: As Syrian refugees, she says, they're particularly vulnerable. They're not from Turkey. Their country is still consumed by civil war. She worries.

SHIKHANI: People are worried for the future. What will happen? It's very difficult to find work again, to make life again, because it was difficult. How we will continue life here again, we don't know. Please, rescue us as refugees, just as a human. Save our souls. Only this. We don't no food. We don't no money. We don't - just save our lives and to protect our kids and to make a small future for them, small future.

FADEL: And I hope that people will hear this and more help will come. We're praying for you and your family.

SHIKHANI: Thank you.

FADEL: And we'll keep calling back to check on you. We'll keep calling back to check on you and see how you are.

SHIKHANI: Thank you for everyone who listen to us, even just to pray for us. Thank you for all.

FADEL: Assalah Shikhani is trying to survive this disaster. She works for the Karam Foundation, a Syrian aid organization that invests in refugees and operates in Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan. But now they're doing disaster relief. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.