After Turkey's earthquake, a grave mental health toll looms

Reuters
Feb 27, 2023

After Turkey's earthquake, a grave mental health toll looms


It has been three weeks since Tugce Seren Gul's aunt and grandmother were killed in Antakya when a devastating earthquake struck Turkey's southeast. And yet every night, she waits until 4.17 am in the morning, the exact time that the disaster hit, to try to go to sleep.

"I keep thinking another disaster will strike at that time and just wait for it to pass," said Gul, 28, who managed to run out of her family house with her mother moments before the walls of her house collapsed during the tremors.