Matthew Levering
Expos 9
Ms. Gokturk
An Earthquake Around The World
Suddenly I was awakened by a loud commotion on the deck below. I did not yet open my eyes as I hoped to fall back a sleep. While enjoying the soothing rocking motion of the floor beneath me back and forth, and the comforting sea breeze that’s surrounded me, there was once again more commotion from the main deck below. I realized that this was not the ships crew fooling around; there was a sense of urgency in their voices by which I could tell something very important was going on. I arose from large blue cushion on the top floor of the sailboat, where I had fallen asleep the night before, and yawning, climbed my way down the small ladder to where the crew and the rest of my family was. They were frantically trying to hook up our small television, and they finally turned the dials to one of the main Istanbul TV stations. Through the fuzzy picture came the announcer’s voice: “A devastating earthquake has struck right in the heart of Istanbul last night, we are not sure yet of the extent of the damages or of the amount of people injured.”
My vacation had begun about a week before with a fourteen hour plane ride to Turkey, with a most unpleasant eight hour layover in London. The idea of a vacation in Turkey is not one that jumps out to most people as one to be overly exciting, and I was no different. I would much rather have spent two weeks of my summer on a tropical island somewhere in the Caribbean, but unfortunately my parents James and Carolyn, grandmother Lois, two uncles Gary and Don, two aunts Joanne and Jan and two cousins Nate and Sandy (all on my fathers side of the family) did not share my point of view.
But why Turkey? My father grew up in a small town in Kansas, his family which consisted of him, my two paternal grandparents, and four of my uncles. Because for some reason they felt the house was not crowded enough, they added a Turkish foreign exchange student, Ahmet Dikman, to the mix who soon became thought of as part of the Levering family. Now, forty somewhat years later my whole family has remained strongly connected to him as he once again lives in Turkey. Consequently, my family summer vacation of 1999 was scheduled halfway around the world.
Once in Turkey, week one of two took place in the major city of Istanbul. In the city the sights, sounds and smells streets are something even today that I can clearly remember. Being my first time in a major foreign city other than London, I perceived noticeable differences from any place I had ever been before. I was exposed to a different culture for the first time in my life. Sounds foreign to my ear filled the air a few times a day. These were the sounds of the many Mosques located throughout the city. The city had an all around different feel of it than a city such as New York City. I would not call it an extremely poor country but I perceived a much greater level of people on the streets selling things, and I felt a lower level of cleanliness in general around most places, and buildings didn’t seem especially well built. As I would later find out, my last observation would have consequences far beyond anything I could’ve ever imagined.
The first week in Istanbul did not surpass my expectations by any means. A week filled with sightseeing has never been my idea of a good time. The whole time I wish I could just get the week would just be over with, because as everyone my age thought, there were an infinite number of weeks to come. I was actually excited when I found out what we would be doing during week number two. My family and Ahmets family would be embarking on a private cruise on the Mediterranean Sea. We had a small crew of about five guys who got food, cooked for us and sailed our sailboat. Walking up the gangplank I remember being filled with excitement, finally something fun. Right behind me was our Turkish friend’s dog, a Dalmatian named Gypsy. Following him was the rest of my family. I peered over the sides and could see right through the clear Mediterranean water. Within the hour Nate and I had, I guess you could say tight rope walked, the bow sprit and we were jumping about twenty feet to the ocean below. The day was filled with excitement. Everyone on the ship was having a great time. At night fall, everyone had gone below deck to their cabins but I decided I would sleep on a comfy blue cushion because it was nice and cool on deck. How quickly the atmosphere changed in just one night.
“Hey, what’s goin on down here?” I mumbled groggily, my eyes squinting to adjust to the sun that had been blocked from my view by the great white awning over my bed.
“There was a major earthquake in Istanbul this morning, shhh we’re tryin to hear the TV” said a couple of crew members as they tried to fix the antenna with their hands shaking with nervousness.
Through the static
we could hear: “…at 3 am this morning
a devastating earthquake has struck right
in the heart of Istanbul last night, we are not sure yet of the extent of the
damages or of the amount of people injured. I am here live at the scene now
where numerous buildings have collapsed right behind me here…”
“My god”, Ahmet jumped up and yelled with a sound of fear in his voice. “We have to call Murat.”(Who was one of their sons that had stayed behind in the city.)
As the cabin got filled with anxious conversations, I could see the fear on all of the crew members faces as well as my family friends, not to mention the concern in all of my family members eyes. I knew they had loved ones and friends in the city, and that they were probably overcome with fear about their safety. This was the first time in my life where I had been in an awful and serious situation such as the one, and it was only just beginning to unfold. The worst part about it was that there were people around me who were going through a terrifying experience and there was nothing that I or anyone else for that matter on the ship, was able to do about it.
Besides seeing people in fear, I was at first not truly personally affected by this event. But as the days went on and we received more news about the severity of the earthquake, I was overcome with a feeling unknown to me before. It was the thought that if this earthquake had happened a few days earlier, I would’ve been right in the heart of it.
I suppose there are not many seventh graders who have thought that something bad could’ve happened to me. I certainly was one of them until this week. Sitting on our boat, it was hard to keep enjoying our vacation even though we found out all the friends and family of people on the boat were okay. Either the radio or the TV constantly kept relayed new of death toll statistics which by the end of the week had reached heights of about 30,000 to 40,000 people. Many of the buildings in Turkey were not properly built, and did not have certain safety standards which is why buildings destruction was very high. This week only raised my awareness that it could have been me in one of those buildings.
The next week intensified many of the new outlooks I had realized about life and how I was not immortal and that I should cherish my life. When I went back to Istanbul for my plane ride home I realized that many people were not as fortunate as I. I saw US rescue workers that were sent to Turkey who were wearing orange jackets running about the city. I heard my parents talking about how many lives were lost because of the poor job of the government to come up with a disaster plan since this earthquake was not out of the blue, and to make sure of safety regulation in building structures.
I for the first time in my life was truly happy to be alive and I realized how fortunate I was to live the life I live. Today when I see terrible events on the TV I often remember how real these events are, that they don’t only happen to people you don’t know. August 17th, 1999 immediately transformed a vacation projected to be nothing more than eventless and unmemorable, into a memorable experience whose effects have and will continue to impact the way I live for years to come.