KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian citizen has recounted his experience in Turkey at the time of the powerful earthquake yesterday.
Taking to Facebook, Dhiya' Urrahman said: "My wife and I hurried out of the house around 4.30am after waking up from a very severe tremor."
He said they were in Sanliurfa and experienced extreme terror, confusion, and fear upon the initial tremors.
He added, the building in front of his house collapsed with the second powerful quake.
"We quickly changed and grabbed our coats and backpacks to leave the house"
"However, within an hour and a half later, once the shaking stopped, we dared to turn back home to perform our prayers outside."
He said they returned to the house around 10.30am and saw three to four buildings destroyed.
'We were anxious and were unable to express our feelings"
" We are uncertain as to whether we wish to return to our residence. My wife was already in tears, and we wanted to save our pair of pet birds."
"We gathered our courage and brought our pets out and some important documents," he said via a video clip recorded at Sanliurfa bus terminal.
He said that after authorities restricted everyone from staying in their homes for safety reasons, they took a bus to his in-laws' in Sakarya.
"We will return from Sakarya in a week or two. God willing, we will be moving to a new place but still in the Sanliurfa area. "
"Many houses in my area have collapsed as they are old buildings… between 30 and 40 years old," he claimed.
A second quake occurred at the bus terminal as well, and people were seen leaving their buildings.
"We returned to the terminal after about five minutes, and the aftershocks occurred every 10 to 15 minutes after that," he said.
Also, he expressed regret for not being able to immediately respond to people who had attempted to contact him via handphone.
"Pray for us that everything will be made easier. We trust in God," he said.
According to Turkish media, 2,379 people have been reported dead and 14,483 injured across 10 regions in Turkey as a result of yesterday's two powerful earthquakes in the country's southern area.
In neighbouring Syria, nearly 1,300 people were killed and another 2,400 injured after a powerful earthquake hit its epicentre in the Pazarcik area.
Yesterday, Wisma Putra confirmed that 12 Malaysians believed to be in the earthquake zone in Southeast Turkey are safe.
