'Nothing was enough.' Former Bloomington exchange student grapples with fallout from Turkey’s earthquake

By Isabella Vesperini isvesp@iu.edu

room where they will continue studying. They will continue to live in this temporary apartment until it is safe to return home. She said her family was able to return to their apartment twice to collect necessities such as clothes, books and food.

She said her dad wants to wait until a professional can come to check their house because he does not trust the government officials that originally came. She said her dad does not think the government is taking the situation very seriously. It will probably take four or five months to get their apartment fixed.

“I’m so upset about it— they couldn’t manage all the things that happened,” Ezgi said. “They were not enough. Nothing was enough. It was so bad.”

After a few days, the army came and started to search through the rubble for survivors. There was also international help from the United Nations, which is appealing $1 billion to aid Turkey. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has filed two emergency appeals, sending health teams and initiating fundraisers to help Turkey and Syria.

Ezgi said she has struggled with her mental health since the earthquake. One of her schoolmates was killed and an acquaintance she knows from her dad is coping with their entire family being killed. She limits the time she watches the news to combat her negative thoughts.

“I don’t know what to think about it because I didn’t really have time to manage my feelings," Ezgi said. “I'm not sorry about my physical health or my house because it’s fixable... There are still people out there and when I think about them, I think ‘How can I drink this water if they don’t have water?’”

10 seconds after knocking on the door.

They had slept through the entire thing.

Ezgi’s garage was cracked and in pieces, leaving the car useless. Instead, one of her neighbors offered to drive them wherever they needed. They first stopped at their grandparents’ house to pick them up, and then they all went to their aunt’s house, where they are all currently living. One singular apartment houses her uncles, aunts, grandparents, sisters and parents. Her uncle sleeps in his car with one of his friends. Everyone else sleeps in the main room where the heating is located. Only her grandfather sleeps in the bedroom with no heating. “He doesn’t care about the cold,” Ezgi said. “He’s just sleeping there.”

As a high school physics teacher, her mom is left to do her job from home with school buildings closed. Since exams were not canceled in Turkey, Ezgi and her younger sister have a

She said some of her international friends she made last year as an exchange student at Bloomington High School North did not reach out to see how she was.

“If they knew and didn’t text me...It just breaks my heart,” Ezgi said.

SEE EARTHQUAKE PAGE 4