The Terrifying Earthquake of 1999_Ela

THE TERRIFYING EARTHQUAKE OF TURKEY

By: Ela

I

t’s 03:00 AM August 17 , 1999, I was sleepy I don’t know why I’m awake at three in th

the morning, suddenly I heard a loud noise I realized that it was the doors opening and closing so hard. The house was shaking so much I was scared. I shouted my

husbands name “Huseyin” loud enough to wake him up; we got water and our phones and ran out of the apartment. It was dark but there were streetlights, my hands were shaking. It wasn’t from the weather; it’s not too cold or too warm. A lot of people are outside I called my relatives to make

Sure that they were ok, luckily no one died. I was still shaking my heart was pumping really fast. I drank water and asked my husband about staying in our relative’s house because I don’t believe that our building is so strong to hold an earthquake so big again but luckily this time it did.

So we went to our relative’s house and stayed there for a few days and decided to go back to our house, nothing was damaged but at least 1,000 people died from the 37 seconds earthquake. Even though the earthquake was mainly in Izmit, it went all around Turkey because it was pretty rough. Sometimes I hardly believe that I am one of the people that survived from the enormous earthquake.

I certainly don’t want this to happen again, I hope no one does. Whenever that horrible earthquake comes to my mind I get anxious,

always the same

question comes to my mind “What if it happens

again? What’s going

to happen to me and my family? Will we get hurt?

What will we

do?” Nearly everyday that frightful earthquake comes to my mind and I feel like I’m still there.

I really don’t want to be there, it was awful people were rushing out of the building, the building was shaking like it wanted to get us out of there. The elevators wouldn’t work we all

had to use the stairs and it wouldn’t be a good choice to use the elevators if they were useable at that time. However, the apartment was shaking too much to use the stairs but we did and it was so bad. Whenever an earthquake happens I have a flashback to the 1999 earthquake and I feel sad about the people that died in there.

After Word:

The earthquake took 37 seconds, the magnitude was 7.6 and the number of people that died during the earthquake is at least 1,000. The earthquake was so dangerous and I don’t think anyone wants the 1999 earthquake to happen again, I don’t want any earthquake to happen again. But this earthquake was one of the huge earthquakes and many people died, if a similar earthquake happens then many people will die again and it can be me or someone close to me. I don’t think anyone wants that to happen. When I listened to my mom talk about it I felt sad for the people that died because I thought about me being there while the earthquake was happening and than I thought what if something happened to my family. I know that Earthquakes are natural disasters and that there is no way to predict or control them but there are ways of making people more aware of them and of making buildings and structures stronger.

About the author: Ela Acar was born in 2002, one year after her brother Tan Acar was born and four years

after the terrible earthquake that struck Istanbul in 1999. She studies at Istanbul International Community School (IICS) and is on the basketball team. Her favorite pastime is piano. Ela is grateful to her parents for telling her stories such as the one about the earthquake as it makes her realize just what a natural disaster can do to a city.

Dedication page This story is dedicated to my mother Ilkay Acar. She lived through the Istanbul earthquake of 1999 because she used her head during a crisis and because she’s one of the bravest people I know.

About the author

Bibliography:

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http://global.britannica.com/event/Izmit-earthquake-of-1999