According to daily Cumhuriyet’s Mehmet İnmez, after the Kahramanmaraş-based earthquakes, privately owned cranes that were sent immediately to the region for relief efforts from every region of Turkey were not allowed to operate. AFAD relief agency told the crane owners, “There are no operators. If you pay, they will work.” The report also exposed that the agency stood silently as the victims were charged by the hour to dig up their dead family members. Dozens of citizens paid 10,000 TL (around 500 USD) per hour to cranes controlled by AFAD to save their relatives from under the rubble.
Following the earthquake, thousands of people were under the rubble, and families were asked to pay for the cranes controlled by AFAD, the government relief agency. Citizens had to pay 10 thousand TL for each hour
After the Turkish Red Crescent was involved in many scandals, including selling the relief tents and the food in its inventory during the earthquake disaster, a new scandal by the other relief agency, AFAD, is involved in a new scandal.
According to daily Cumhuriyet’s Mehmet İnmez, after the Kahramanmaraş-based earthquakes, privately owned cranes that were sent immediately to the region for relief efforts from every region of Turkey were not allowed to operate. AFAD relief agency told the crane owners, “There are no operators. If you pay, they will work.” The report also exposed that the agency stood silently as the victims were charged by the hour to dig up their dead family members. Dozens of citizens paid 10,000 TL (around 500 USD) per hour to cranes controlled by AFAD to save their relatives from under the rubble.
A citizen who gave money took the matter to the judiciary.
Another earthquake victim said,
“While we were waiting for a crane to save our lives, the crane owners affiliated with AFAD asked us for money. Why didn’t AFAD follow suit? Why did they allow this inhumane behavior?”
Orhan Aydın: “viciousness of the 21st century”
It turned out that the crane owners asked for money from Orhan Aydin, a theater artist who lost his daughter in the earthquake in Hatay. “For the first four days, they sold water, soup, and everything with money. I went to the owners of cranes parked on the roadsides and begged them. They asked for 10 thousand TL per hour. I tried to reach my daughter.”
“We waited for a crane for days, but it didn’t come. For three days, there was no AFAD, no Red Crescent, and no state. They asked us for money because there was no operator for the waiting cranes. I rebelled for days not to surrender to them. On the evening of the second day, I could not find a crane. Dozens of work machines were standing. Nobody was establishing order. They tried to rent out construction machinery and cranes. We negotiated for 10 thousand TL per hour and 50 thousand TL (2,630 USD) per day. We paid for these cranes. I saw the viciousness of the 21st century. There were even those who sold soup and water for money. I’ve witnessed those. Why didn’t AFAD follow them? How did they allow money to be taken for cranes under their control?”
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