The priest recounts a reality of destruction: from the bell tower to the minaret, the synagogue, everything was destroyed. The memory of people who were not saved, such as “a mother with her daughter” and that “it still hurts.” Ecumenism in pain: “I celebrate funeral rites for Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants.”
Milan () – In Antioch “there is nothing left, we have no electricity or water, we sleep outdoors”, in the city “the smell of death is breathed” and those who could “fled” to Marsin or other places in search of refuge. It is the dramatic testimony that he entrusted to Father Francis Dondu, parish priest of the Church of Saints Peter and Paul, in one of the centers hardest hit by the devastating earthquake on February 6 in Turkey and Syria. “The bell tower of the church, the minaret, the synagogue, nothing remains,” he continued. I have been here since day one to try to help in a situation of extreme need, also to bury the dead, which are many.
The number of victims is growing day by day: to date the count is 41,219 confirmed deaths, of which 35,418 only in Turkey, which already speaks of the most catastrophic natural event in the country’s modern history. Never in 100 years had an earthquake of such devastating magnitude occurred; however, even at this juncture, small stories of hope continue to emerge. 212 hours after the mainshock, rescuers pulled a 77-year-old woman in Adiyaman alive from the rubble, identified as Fatma Gungor, who is now hospitalized.
“The earthquake”, recalls Father Francis, originally from Bangalore (India), a missionary in Turkey since 2007 at the invitation of Monsignor Luigi Padovese, “occurred while everyone was sleeping. I remember that the church [la casa parroquial, donde dormía el sacerdote, ndr.] it moved like a ship on the high seas. We immediately ran outside and began to welcome and help the screaming people. We did everything possible to help so many people, evacuating them from houses that were in ruins or in danger of collapsing, but we could not save some of them”. As in the case of a mother with a little girl “who screamed desperately for help, but no we could do nothing. This memory still hurts.”
“As a priest, I made the obvious decision to stay, at least until all the parishioners were sheltered,” he continued. “Even today there are huge machines digging through the rubble, there is dust everywhere. Some streets have recently reopened and there is movement of people, many seek refuge in tents. And help is starting to arrive after two or three days of isolation, because the roads were closed or destroyed.”
“We are here to help,” he added, “if only to bury all the Christian victims. Now there is no distinction between confessions, I celebrate funeral rites for Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants.” Among the many emergencies, he explains, there is also “having to bury the dead. We have opened a cemetery for this purpose: we find deformed corpses, the smell of death is intense. Even going out and touring the city is scary because of the stench that you breathe”.
The needs are enormous, but many times “not much can be done” and everyone “really wants to go”. “We have also experienced a great trauma from a psychological point of view,” he admits, “and I myself was very affected. During the night you cannot sleep, from time to time you feel new tremors. The last ones at night, between 3 and 4, were magnitude 4.2 and immediately caused great fear.” And he concluded: “It will take years, at least five or more, to rebuild everything, but there are symbols of the past that have already been lost” by a huge general loss from the human, economic, historical and spiritual point of view.
IN SUPPORT OF THE INITIATIVES FOR THE VICTIMS OF THE EARTHQUAKE CARRIED OUT BY THE APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF ANATOLIA AND THE CUSTODY OF THE HOLY LAND, THE PIME FOUNDATION HAS OPENED A FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN. CLICK HERE TO KNOW WHAT IT CONSISTS OF AND TO CONTRIBUTE.