Over 25,000 dead from quake in Turkey and Syria

The whirring of saws and hammering of nails filled the belly of the ferry, its silent parade of cars was replaced by a hive of midnight activity.

Above deck, seats of the cabin were empty and the tables bare except for the school books and toys that waited for unknown children. 

In Istanbul’s Yenikapı Port, a midnight transformation was underway Friday night, as city authorities raced to transform one of two ferryboats into a floating village, with enough showers, kitchens, and even school teachers to temporarily house 1,200 people left homeless by this week’s deadly earthquake.

With its departure set for Saturday morning, time was of the essence, with city workers and volunteers having only started the ship’s metamorphosis 24 hours earlier.

By midnight, a few dozen bunks stood upright, ready for the extra crew, and 14 hospital beds were being shrouded with sheets, for the injured evacuees, that the boat will pick up in Iskenderun port, in Turkey’s earthquake-stricken Hatay province. 

While Turkey’s president has promised to provide hotel rooms for homeless residents, this project was the product of Istanbul’s own initiative rather than any government edict.

It’s a much needed, if imperfect, solution to the impending housing crisis, with thousands of buildings destroyed, likely many more uninhabitable.

“People will be able to sleep,” Sinem Dedetaş, general manager of the Istanbul’s ferry lines, which owns the boat, said. “They will be able to wash and use toilets, to eat comfortably. We will have socialization and rehabilitation areas.”