Nizar Abdullah spent the night sifting through the ruins of the two-storey house next door in the mountainous town of Darbandikhan in Iraqi Kurdistan after a killer quake hit the region. “There were eight people inside,” Abdullah, an Iraqi Kurd, said on Monday, outside the pile of concrete debris where the house once stood. Some family members managed to escape, but “neighbours and rescue workers pulled out the mother and one of the children dead from the rubble”, said the 34-year-old.
Most people were at home when the quake struck. “All at once the electricity went out and I felt a strong tremor,” said loqman Hussein. “I immediately ran out of the house with my family,” he added.
Akram Wali, 50, said many families in Darbandikhan sought shelter with relatives outside of the town. They fled as authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan called on the population in the southern area of the town to leave their homes, fearing that the Darbandikhan dam would burst.
Taha Mohammed, 65, has not heeded the call to leave Darbandikhan, even if the quake totally destroyed his house. “We ran out and no one was injured,” said the man dressed in the traditional baggy pants of Iraqi Kurds, counting his blessings despite the tragedy.
Sunday’s quake was also felt in southeastern Turkey.