A homeless undertaker moved with his wife and four sons next door to a cemetery in the city of Iskenderun following a massive earthquake in Turkey. Ali Dogru, fearing for his safety, moved his family from the damaged apartment to a cemetery shortly after the February 6 earthquake.
The family has lived inside an abandoned bus ever since.
Dogru worked as an undertaker at the cemetery for over six years, burying about five bodies a day.
After the earthquake, the number of bodies arriving increased significantly, with Dogru claiming to have buried 12 people on the first night alone, and arranged for the burial of 1,210 victims within 10 days of the disaster.
He told Al Jazeera, “As a butcher, I used to see people sacrifice lambs in their arms.
“I was shocked to see people having their own children and partners.
“All I wanted was to work day and night to get this job done. I didn’t want people to come and tell me the body wasn’t buried.”
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake killed more than 52,000 people in Turkey and Syria last month.
Meanwhile, floods hit two Turkish provinces already devastated by last month’s powerful earthquakes, raising the death toll from the new disaster to 16.
Flash floods from last week’s torrential rains turned roads in Adiyaman and Sanrifulfa provinces into rivers on Wednesday, swept cars away and flooded homes and campsites sheltering quake survivors.
Most of the deaths occurred in Şanlıurfa, where rescuers on Thursday found the bodies of two people reported missing in mud and debris left by floodwaters. I was looking for a missing person.
In Adiyaman, two people drowned after a torrent washed away a container house protecting families of earthquake survivors.
Adiyaman and Şanlıurfa were among 11 Turkish provinces hit by a magnitude 7.8 earthquake on February 6, killing more than 48,000 people in Turkey and an estimated 6,000 in northern Syria.
Meanwhile, a moderate-strength earthquake rocked cities in northeastern Turkey on Thursday, sending people to the streets in fear.
The magnitude 4.8 earthquake was centered in the city of Bor, about 260 kilometers (162 miles) east of Istanbul.
Bor’s mayor, Tanju Ozkan, told Habertak TV that there were no reports of damage to buildings in the city, but many people ran outdoors in fear.
He said medical personnel have responded to “one or two” cases of panic attacks, including several injured by jumping from balconies.
