KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian doctor working in Gaziantep, Turkey which was affected by earthquakes yesterday recounted the chaos that ensued as he and his colleagues treated the injured and handled the dead.
Dr Syazwan Abu Bakar said many victims came in to a Turkish hospital after being pulled out of the ruble and debris of collapsed buildings. He said there were dozens of people injured and some were declared Dead On Arrival.
When speaking to Bernama, he said he and his colleagues had to run out of the hospital each time the earthquake happened. The aftermath left the building with cracks.
"During the first earthquake which happened at around 4.30am, I was on call at the time, and was taking a break. I ran out and then I went back in to check on patients.
"The second earthquake happened in the afternoon and I ran out of the building once again. Right after that I was working in treating patients in the emergency unit," he said when speaking to Bernama.
Dr Syazwan, 34, said he knows of five other Malaysians who live in Gaziantep, including two doctors.
However, he does not if they are safe.
"That morning (Feb 6), someone from the embassy called me up, but I was very busy. So I gave the person from the embassy the contact numbers of two other Malaysians in Gaziantep."
Dr Syazwan lives alone in Gaziantep, while his family live in a different district located about three hours away from the city.
"The house which my family live had cracks after the quake. They moved to an area in the west which is supposed to be safer," he said.
The earthquake measuring a magnitude of 7.8 that centred in the district of Pazarcik shook and rocked the region of Kahramanmaras and brought disruption to a few other regions including Gaziantep, Sanliurfa, Diyarbakir, Adana, Adiyaman, Malatya, Osmaniye, Hatay and Kilis.
