THE 1999 EARTHQUAKE

It was the only terrifiying Sunday that I never want to remember for all my life.It was a roasting August Sunday,with the sun glowing over us like a fire and the boundless sky with its sapphire blue like the colassal,bottomless oceans.We were living our typical Sunday without the conscious of the fortcoming catastrophe.The atmosphere was like a hell with its burning hot.When it became dark,instead of its vivacious nights,İstanbul was as still as a sleeping baby.This made me scared and I felt coldness of a melting ıce in my heart and shaked.My mother and my father were looking helpless and upset as if they were informed beforehand about the disaster.They were pale like a death rose.With the anxiety of the night,we went to our beds at 12 o’clock being unaware of the fact that the earthquake was waiting for 3 o’clock to take lifes’ of millions like the angel of the death.

When I put my head on my pillow,I wanted to sleep as fast as possible to escape from the dissatisfaction of that night.However,it didnt take a long time and after three hours, I got up with the trembling of my bed.As I was sleepy,I didnt take into consideration it,but when the speed of vibrations increased,my life went through in front of my eyes like a film band, and I felt the scent of death going through my nasal passages.I got up immediately and tried to find my parents.However,the door had been locked and the electricity had gone.So, I screamed and began to weep bitter tears.All of the furnitures fell down with an incredible roar that I almost never want to hear again.I curled beside my bed putting my hands over my head.After a couple of minute,my father broke the door and took me out of the room.We found a lantern and got out of the house in the speed of light.It was keeping on shaking with an increasing velocity.We gathered with our neighbours in the empty field across our buildings.Everybody was crying like a child and seeing their deadly pale faces made me faint.

When I opened my eyes,the new day dawned as if nothing had happened.My mother and father were beside me,but they had some wounds on their bodies.My father had injured his left leg,and my mother’s soft skin turned into a tough iron because of the stressful and painful night..I tought that ıt was our luck that make us rescue with small wounds from an earthquake with 7.4 strength after I heard the balance sheet.17.840 people had died during the earthquake and 43.953 people had injured due to the uninvited guest..Morever,thousands of corpes and living bodies had waited under wreckages to be found for many days.So,it was the worst weekend I have ever had during my life.

Written by: BURCU CENDEK