Does anyone hear my voice?

-Does anyone hear my voice?

-Mom, mom, where are you?

-Is there anyone there? Help?

-Please help, I can't move!

-Release me ! Save my child.

17 August 1999 at Marmara Time at 03.05 (Turkey)

In the pitch dark, everywhere is mixed with dust and smoke, the screams of those who ask for help make the place moan.

The survivors, overcoming the initial shock of the incident, try to explain to those who cry out in pain, to stay calm and in a panic atmosphere that help will arrive as soon as possible.

The silence of the night was broken, giving way to drama and bitter cries. Without even realizing that they were caught in one of the greatest disasters of the century in their sleep, those who broke away from life experienced burial before death.

17 August 1999 at 03.02 am

Moment magnitude 7.5 surface wave magnitude 7.8 and just 10-15 km from the ground. It was what happened right after the earthquake that shook the ground and those above it like a cradle for about 1 minute.

The life-stopped Azrael was working overtime, taking thousands of lives almost every second. Although it showed its devastating effect in one country in Marmara, it affected 3 regions, dozens of big cities and 16 million people in it.

Buildings were falling one after the other like matchboxes, and each collapsed building either killed those caught in the earthquake in their sleep or imprisoned them in a tiny living space.

The country was vigilant and the authorities were directing the officials with successive statements. No one knew yet the gravity of the situation. Search and rescue teams were being directed to the crime scene, trying to reach the survivors alive as soon as possible.

The base stations are down, the phones don't work, there is a power and water cut that covers the whole region. Due to insufficient personnel and equipment, most of the places did not receive help on time, and the survivors there were trying to provide opportunities for the people under the rubble, in their own impossibilities.

Due to the size of the area it spread, the authorities were helpless and they were expressing their helplessness by asking for help from the world.

It wasn't just an earthquake in a city, it was all on the streets, except for the 16 million people who died and were buried under the rubble. Their homes were destroyed, their businesses destroyed. However, the place where they lived was a huge industrial zone.

-I didn't want to share the current pictures of the earthquake here and make the event more dramatic. Pictures of buildings destroyed in earthquakes are an image you all already know.

The gravity of the event came to light at daybreak and people from every region moved to the cities in the earthquake zone for help. The morning of August 17, 1999 was far from a normal morning.

A few feeble aid teams from neighboring countries were weak in the face of the enormity of the event.

In those days when the internet was not yet widely used, television channels were passing the event off with a few sentences.

US President Clinton, who came to Turkey in those days, visited the earthquake zone and the "Erkan baby", who was given to his lap during his visit, pinched the nose of the American president, which became more of a topic on television channels around the world than people who died or were left under a dent.

Unfortunately, the lives of some of us are not as valuable as the gestures of some of us.

Yesterday was the 22nd anniversary of the "marmara earthquake", one of the biggest earthquakes of the century in terms of area and intensity.

According to official figures, 17480 people lost their lives, 49,000 were injured and 505 lost their arms or legs.

But when the number of people who died during the earthquake as a result of the filling of the sea and whose funerals could not be reached are added, the number of people lost is much higher than this. We will never know the real figures due to the ongoing search and rescue efforts in the region on the one hand, and the ongoing efforts to meet the food and drink, unfortunately, due to the fact that official records cannot be kept fully due to the burials of the lost lives. But the opinion that the estimated death toll is more than 50 thousand is heavy.

There are people who experienced the earthquake and still suffer from psychological problems and receive therapy support.

Of course, there were miracles that escaped by first breaking his own arm and then cutting it off, and were rescued alive even days after the earthquake.

Government officials convened right after the disaster made it mandatory for all cities to conduct ground surveys and decided to build as many floors as the ground allowed, tightened the inspections of the materials used in the next buildings and ensured the construction of solid buildings.

Because as earthquake scientists say; "Earthquakes don't kill people, buildings do"

My country is in a first degree earthquake zone and we have to be careful at all times.

• Thank you for reading, and I'm sorry if I offended you in my description. We cannot ignore the realities, however painful it may be.