Turkiye quake: M’sian students near epicentre traumatised, uni deemed unsafe

KUALA LUMPUR – A Malaysian student at Gaziantep University who is currently under the care of the Malaysian embassy in Ankara, Turkiye, was one of the many who were going about their daily routine when a massive earthquake struck on Monday.

“Currently, even the slightest earth movement, scares me. I am still traumatised,” said the 21-year-old.

Recalling moments before the deadly 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Turkiye and Syria on Monday, Zahirul, who is learning Islamic History at the university said he was watching television.

“We often feel minor tremors here (Gaziatep), every now and then. So, I was not bothered at first. But on Monday, after a few minor tremors. It felt different, we were really shaken. 

“At first, I didn’t know what to do. My hostel is on the fifth floor – and when I saw my floormates started running down, I decided just to follow suit.

“Electricity got cut off too. I left the room only with the clothes on my back and just grabbed my phone so that I can call home,” he told Bernama via a telephone interview from the Malaysian embassy in Ankara, Turkiye today

The quake, which was centred in Turkiye’s southeastern province of Kahramanmaras, about 78km from Gaziantep, is said to be the strongest to hit the region in more than 100 years. It has so far killed 12,000 people in both Turkiye and Syria.

Before the subsequent tremors, Zahirul said he and his other friends, including another Malaysian student, Wan Isyraf Wan Haziq, 19, who was also at the embassy, managed to return to their respective rooms to secure some essentials.

While Zahirul is a second-year student at the university, Wan Isyraf has just enrolled in Turkish Language studies at the university four months ago.

Zahirul said although the hostel is still standing tall, the earthquake left cracks in the building, and it was deemed unsafe.

“On the first day, we stayed at a nearby mosque, which eventually got crowded. On the second day, we came to know that the university was also providing accommodation. So, we went back there,” he said.

By then, the Malaysian embassy had managed to contact Zahirul and Wan Isyraf and brought them to Ankara.

“We are really grateful for the assistance provided by the Malaysian and Indonesian embassy, here,” he said, adding the main focus was to leave Gaziantep and go to safer ground.

“Even now, the tremor is still felt in Gaziantep every three hours. On the first day, we felt tremors every hour. 

“Currently, we are on our semester break. It ends on February 20. If it is safe to return to university, I will go back – but if the university opts to go virtual I probably choose to return to Malaysia and attend virtual lessons from home,” he said.

Malaysian ambassador to Turkiye Sazali Mustafa Kamal said the embassy stands ready to assist Malaysians affected by the earthquake.

Malaysia is among the first countries to respond to the disaster with an announcement of a US$1 million (RM4.3 million) contribution to help victims, and had since deployed the second Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (SMART) to the country.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the deployment was done due to their effectiveness.

The team flew to Türkiye on Monday. – Bernama, February 9, 2023