Local Turks’
families shaken
up but OK

Relatives in Istanbul give mixed
reports on earthquake damage

By Mary Adamski
Star-Bulletin

Honolulu resident Engin Turkalp, visiting family and friends in Istanbul, did not suffer any ill effects of the Tuesday earthquake which killed more than 4,000 people.

But it was 24 hours of anxiety for her husband, Ismet Turkalp, before he received that good news.

"I was very much concerned when I called and couldn't get through," said Turkalp, a structural engineer in Honolulu. "For 24 hours I kept calling; the phone showed busy. But she's OK. I talked to her yesterday afternoon.

"She was in the city (Istanbul); the earthquake was about 65 miles away. They have some damage but not much. I couldn't reach her because the power was out, the telephone was disconnected. Today I tried again. I could not make the connection because so many people are calling," he said. "My nephews and all of my relatives are in Turkey. They are all OK."

Turkalp said his wife, president of the Turkish American Friendship Society of Hawaii and a volunteer with the Honolulu Symphony, will not cut short her visit because of the disaster. She is staying about seven miles from Istanbul.

Turkalp said he had traveled back to their homeland with his wife and just returned from Turkey a couple of weeks ago. "I was amazed when I was there that they build these kind of buildings that did not look very strong for earthquakes or for wind sources. It is an earthquake zone -- like Southern California, you expect it. I think there should be earthquake resistant construction. I worked in San Francisco before coming here. You have to know how to design a building for an earthquake zone."

He said that part of the reason that the damage was so great is that "it is kind of a slum area. But even some good buildings collapsed."

"I remember an earthquake about as high as this one. At that time about 3,000 people were killed. I think it will be more than that this time. I expect 5,000 deaths or more."

The earthquake struck at 3 a.m. Tuesday in western Turkey, which was 2 p.m. Monday in Hawaii.

Hawaii Pacific University students Vehbi Kaytaz and wife Esra Uyar have also called home to Turkey in the wake of the news. "They're all OK," he said. Their families are in Ankara, which is about 310 miles from Istanbul.

Kaytaz said media coverage of the disaster is upsetting because it appears that the entire country has been devastated. "What you see on TV is not in downtown Istanbul. They are not showing the whole picture. What you see are some buildings that were weak construction, maybe where they used less materials than is legal, because they are poor areas.

"I had e-mail from a friend today who was in Istanbul when the quake happened. He said it took 45 seconds, it was very horrible. Fortunately, he was in his apartment and the building is still standing," said Kaytaz, who is working for a master's degree in information systems.

Uyar, who is studying human resource management, said she has talked to her family twice since the earthquake. "I talked to my mother. She said Ankara is not affected. They are watching things on TV. She talked to a relative in Istanbul, and they told her it is really terrible, worse than it appears. It is now summertime and is very hot there, and so many have lost their homes. Every day, the number of deaths is increasing."