Earthquake in Turkey and Syria: Janine Wissler survives disaster in Diyarbakir

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Left leader Janine Wissler

Photo: Clemens Bilan / epa

More than 2,300 people died in the severe earthquake in the Syrian-Turkish border area, and thousands were injured.

Left leader Janine Wissler was also on site during the quake – and survived it unharmed.

The politician was in the city of Diyarbakir in eastern Turkey, where she met with representatives of the pro-Kurdish HDP opposition.

"I was woken up, it was a very, very strong and long tremor," she told the AFP news agency by phone.

Entire blocks of flats collapsed.

»People everywhere, some only in sandals, in sub-zero temperatures«

Wissler reported that the locals had never experienced an earthquake of this magnitude.

"We have to get out," her companions would have called out to her at the hotel that night.

Everyone ran onto the street, "people everywhere, some only in sandals, when the temperature was below zero," she said.

Everyone would have waited on the street, also because of the many aftershocks that shook the place afterwards.

According to Wissler, the situation was "chaotic" in the morning.

People are still trapped under the rubble.

It wasn't just small houses that collapsed, but entire blocks.

Help is urgently needed on site.

2300 dead, more than 8000 injured

According to preliminary information, at least 14 people died in the 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Diyarbakir and 225 people were injured.

According to official sources, at least 2,300 people have died and more than 8,000 are injured throughout southeastern Turkey and neighboring Syria.

The international community has pledged support to Turkey and Syria after the devastating earthquakes.

Wissler wanted to attend the so-called Kobane trial against high-ranking representatives of the HDP in Ankara on Tuesday, including former HDP bosses Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdag.

Despite snowfall, she was able to fly from Diyarbakir to Ankara in the morning.

In the predominantly Kurdish city in the east of the country, air traffic was partially restricted due to heavy snowfall.

At the trial in Ankara, 108 members of the opposition are charged.

They face long prison sentences.

According to the left, a conviction of the accused would give further impetus to the efforts of the Turkish authorities to ban the HDP before the Turkish presidential and parliamentary elections in May.

The opposition in Turkey has been facing reprisals for years, and thousands of politicians and journalists are in prison.

The Islamic-conservative President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is currently under immense pressure domestically, in particular because of the high inflation.

mrc/AFP