Sri Lankan woman among victims of earthquake in Turkey

The body of a 64-year-old Sri Lankan female, who was living in Turkey and reported missing after last week’s earthquake, has been identified by her daughter, the Sri Lankan Embassy in Turkey said.

The deceased woman who is from Galagedara in Kandy District had left for Turkey around 20 years ago, according to the Sri Lankan Embassy in Turkey.

Ambassador Hasanthi Urugodawatte Dissanayake said: “The Sri Lankan lady who was missing in the Kahramanmaraş area has now been found to be dead. In fact for three days her daughter was also in the area and the embassy was coordinating with the Sri Lankan pastor who had saved his life in the Kahramanmaraş area. And we coordinated with them and AFAD so that they can go to the location that the building was and to start the debris removal process.”  

“The earlier debris removal did not happen on certain places where they thought survivors could not be found.” But then with utmost effort, the body was found this morning under the debris and her daughter identified the remains, she said. 

The Ambassador expressed her deepest condolences to the daughter and her family. She said the embassy is working with everyone including authorities to arraign the final rites for the deceased. 

Earlier, Sri Lanka’s Ambassador in Turkey stated that all 13 of the 14 Sri Lankans believed to be in the earthquake-affected areas of Turkey were safe and that they have already been traced. 

The deceased woman, who had lived in a building that had collapsed in the quake, was not there when the incident occurred and has not been contacted, Ambassador Hasanthi Urugodawatte Dissanayake had told Ada Derana on February 06.  

The ambassador had also appealed to the members of the public to convey any information about Sri Lankans living in Turkey.

According to the Sri Lankan embassy, the woman had been in touch with her daughter and a friend. She has been in a building that has collapsed, but later it was thought that all in the building has come out; then there was information that her mobile phone was discovered.  The embassy said it has reached out to ASAD (Disaster and Emergency Management Agency under the Turkish Presidency) to assist in this regard.

A massive earthquake of a magnitude of 7.8 struck southern Turkey and northwest of Syria in the early hours of Monday (Feb. 06) while freezing cold weather added to the plights of the victims. It was followed by a multitude of aftershocks and a second powerful quake of a magnitude of 7.5.

The death toll from the earthquake on both sides of the border in Turkey and Syria is currently over 28,000 while over 86,000 have been evacuated from the earthquake area.