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[Today’s Prayer] “A family of six has lived in a single room in a container for a year…Nightmares of earthquake every night.”

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On February 6 last year, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake occurred centered in southern Türkiye, killing around 50,000 people.


This earthquake caused so much damage that it was called 'the worst natural disaster of the 21st century.'


To commemorate the first anniversary of the Great Türkiye Earthquake, Maeil Business Newspaper held a conference with 50 international journalists from 7 countries on the 3rd and 4th (local time) and from the provinces of Malatya, Adiyaman, and Kahramanmaras, which were among the areas most affected by the earthquake.


Efforts were made to cover up the scars of the earthquake, but the traces of the disaster left here and there were too large and deep to be concealed.


Major buildings and shopping malls in the center of Malatya, the capital of Malatya Province, appeared intact as if an earthquake had never occurred.


The sight of people coming and going was also lively.


However, even if you drive just 5 minutes outside the city center, you can see rows of buildings with bare structures, some without doors or windows, only partially covered with curtains.


Most stores were operating from containers.


At 4 pm, about 20 people were standing in line in front of a grocery store even before it opened.


It is said that people come from far away to save even a penny because it is the place with the cheapest bread prices in the city.


In Malatya province, 1,237 people died and 6,444 were injured in last year's earthquake. The number of buildings that were completely destroyed was 6,643, and the number of buildings that suffered serious damage reached 35,907.


Malatya Governor Ersin Yaziz said in a briefing that day, "I lost my uncle and nephew in the 1999 earthquake, and my aunt and cousin in another earthquake, but the same tragedy occurred 20 years later," and " with 98% of the reconstruction of the city center and commercial district completed, there are now no ruins and the crime rate, which had doubled with the tightening of penalties, has now decreased,” he underlined.


However, for the victims who lost their homes and families in the earthquake and who have been living with five or six family members in a narrow 21 sqaure meter container for nearly a year, the cold this winter is extremely harsh.


In Malatya Province, 117,232 victims are currently staying in 32,295 temporary houses, including containers.


Emine, 44, who lives in a container with her four children, said: “I lost my husband’s brother and nephew in the earthquake last year.


"I don't think the earthquake is completely over, the scars from the earthquake still continue,” she said.


Kagla (15), who has been living in the container village for about six months, said, “The container is too small for the whole family to live in.

"It's hard because my sister suffers from diabetes and we can't treat it properly," she said, breaking down in tears.

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As indeed he says in Hosea, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’” “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’” (Romans 9:25-26)

A year has passed since the earthquake struck Türkiye, but we hear about our brothers and sisters who are enduring the winter with the damage from the disaster still unrecovered.


Lord, who loves Türkiye, we ask you to have mercy on those who are still suffering from the wounds of the earthquake and who have lost their homes.


Lord, who is King of kings, may the Turkic people become a people of God and would you save them with your strong and powerful righteous hand.


May you pour out upon those who are poor in spirit, a heart that seeks the truth even more, even though they feel like they have lost everything on this earth, may they rise up with the hope of heaven.


Therefore, may there be more people who abandon every false idol and receive the Son of God who bore the cross as their own Savior!


Through the love of God, let Türkiye become a nation that is filled with the fruits of holiness!

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