Six-year-old girl died from cold in Van centre

Cold weather and hunger continue to claim lives in Van which has been hit by two major earthquakes in the last month. Six-year-old Öznur Örgün died of cold and hunger in the while fighting to survive under poor conditions in the nylon tents they set up themselves.
With six- year-old Öznur and one-year-old twins, Cemil and Pakize Örgün couple has been living under poor conditions in a nylon tent since the 7.2 magnitude earthquake on 23 October which forced them too to leave their houses and live on the street. Following one month full of difficulties in even eating and heating in the tent, Öznur became ill on 14 November. She was taken to Van Regional Training and Research Hospital put into intensive care but she couldn’t be saved and lost her life one day later. She was buried at the cemetery of the Halila?a neighborhood her family lives in.
While Öznur was taken to hospital with complaints of common cold, diarrhea and vomiting, the reason of her death was reported as inadequate nutrition, hyper dehydration and common cold.
Mother Pakize Örgün said the followings after her daughter’s dead; “We escaped death at the last minute in the earthquake but my daughter has died of cold now. We are desperate and I am now living in fear of losing my twins from the cold too. They have also become ill because of the cold which will kill them if they are not protected. We didn’t die in the earthquake but I have a fear of dying under these poor conditions.”
Father Cemil Örgün who had been working for a cement plant was dismissed from his work after the earthquake because of the remarkable increase in the plant’s production. Unemployed and incomeless father expresses the situation as follows; “We have nowhere to go and I don’t know what to do. Nobody has helped us so far. We have found shelter under the tent we put up by our own means but all of us will die here if it continues like this.”

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