Opinion

MuslimKidsMatter | A Child’s Thoughts on the Earthquake in Turkey

Published

October 28, 2011

By Nur Kose

In Ramadan, around the earthquake-hurricane time in the Northeast, our neighborhood lost electricity for four whole days and nights. I thought that was bad.

I was sitting in front of the computer when all of a sudden the room lights flickered and then turned off completely. I looked back at the computer and saw that the Internet wasn’t working. At first I thought, I hoped, that the Internet wasn’t working because someone accidentally unplugged something in the other room. But I knew it right from the moment the lights had flickered and turned off… something we’d been dreading for nearly a week had happened. Our electricity had gone out.

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Four whole days, having to take flashlights into the bathroom, avoiding opening the fridge in case the cold air came out and hot air went in to make the food go bad, having to take cold showers, finding things to do besides computer were pretty hard. But we reminded ourselves that we still had a warm house and nearby neighbors who still had their electricity and could help us.

However, people in Turkey have lost all of that on Sunday when a 7.2-magnitude earthquake hit. Over 150 people died and more than 900 buildings were destroyed. People don’t even care about whether they have Internet or not. Their homes and all their belongings are gone. It’s almost early morning in Turkey right now and hundreds of Turks are ending their second night outside in the cold. Thinking about the relatively small earthquake we had in Delaware a few months ago and how intense the shaking was for us, I can only imagine what it must have been like for the people in Turkey. And thinking about all those people who helped us when we were out of power for four days, I know that now it’s our turn to help the earthquake victims.

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Related Topics:Aid gratitude Islam kids Muslim Muslimkidsmatter natural disaster relief Turkey

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6 Comments

Yasmin

October 28, 2011 at 3:00 PM

Mashallah, this is a very beautiful and heartfelt post!

Reply
Pingback: Please make dua for the Earthquake Victims in Turkey
Nayma

October 29, 2011 at 12:00 AM

Counts say at least 500 dead and 2,500 injured as of now as they are still taking out bodies under the rubble.

This is what a dear friend from Van (one the major cities hit) wrote to me:
Assalamu alaıkum,
We are good alhamdulılllah,we were outside with kids,Mucip was in the center of city.It was horrible everyone was crying,running ,traffic jam and network was cut down.I was with two friends and they were nurses they helped me because I was unconscious.All the family came together after hours we went to another city and stayed 2 days then we came to Ankara.We left Mucip in Van.Make dua people are living in bad condition,weather is cold ,it is a big disaster.With love…

To donate to victims of the Earthquake, please visit: http://www.zakat.org/where_we_work/campaign/turkey/turkey_earthquake_relief/

I pray Nur that you may always learn something beneficial from every lesson that life has to offer you.

Reply
Ahmed

October 30, 2011 at 11:54 AM

May Allah (SWT) help those in need of dire help. It is always a good reminder to remember all that we are blessed with. With our everyday life it makes small pricks of thorns seem detrimental. Only in times of real calamity do we really see what is important in life. Allah (SWT) has blessed us with a lot and the article put some of that in perspective!

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Nurgul

October 30, 2011 at 2:35 PM

Assalamu Alaikum,

Dear Nur, mashallah, you learned a lesson from the days with no electricity and and now you think that and try to help others in need. I am proud of you.
Thank you for writing about this, you are a good role model for kids and may be even for us, grown ups…

Reply
Saadiyye

October 31, 2011 at 3:45 PM

Mashallah Nur,
We as Muslims should be sensitive to all in need, we should help them, and make dua for all of them. You are a good reminder for all of us, how to behave as a Muslim, sensitive, generous, prayer….

Reply