By Omer Yasin Ergin, Hasan Namlı, Ismail Sen and Suat Ozturk
ELAZIG, Turkey (AA) – Schoolchildren in the eastern Turkish province of Elazig attended school on Monday for the first time after an earthquake devastated the region last month.
The 6.8-magnitude quake jolted Turkey's Elazig province and its neighboring provinces on Jan. 24.
According to Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD), a total of 41 people in Elazig and neighboring provinces died as a result of the tremors.
Turkey's Education Ministry decided to temporarily close the schools in the affected regions, extending the semester break for three more weeks.
After the additional holiday, over 400 public and 80 private schools have reopened for nearly 9,000 teachers and over 125,000 students.
Students said they missed school and their friends, hoping to cover the syllabus they missed during the vacation soon.
Yusuf Oz said he was happy to reunite with his friends, and wished that he never faces such a disaster again.
Belinay Sener, another pupil, said they had fallen behind the study schedule due to the earthquake, but wanted to study hard to cover the curriculum.
While Muhammed Meliksah Ucur, a fourth-grade student, was happy to meet his friends and teachers after a long time, Emine Aysan said the longing was distressing at times which will hopefully be overcome in the coming days.
Turkey is prone to earthquakes. At least nine people died in the eastern part of the country when a magnitude-5.7 quake struck the region Sunday, with its epicenter in the neighboring Iran.
In 1999, about 17,000 people died in an earthquake in the western Turkish city of Izmit.
*Writing by Fahri Ask
