GEN:Turkish Disaster and Internet

[Josephine Dervan <rderva@injersey.com>]

Hello All,

I am writing this from the safety of my home in NJ after my return from
Istanbul, Turkey on Wednesday. We had been on a cruise of the Greek
Isles and Turkey. We landed in Istanbul on Monday and spent the day
touring in town. Our hotel, the Polat, is a modern, 23 story building on
the Sea of Marmara on the outskirts of town. At 3:05 AM our 5th story
room started rocking from side to side. The noise was very loud. I got
out of bed and noticed that the power was out. I waited for a call for
evacuation as I knew that it was an earthquake. No call came so I went
back to bed. Later I was awoken by minor aftershocks. Incidentally my
husband slept through the whole thing thinking that he was still on the
ship and that it was docking!

The next AM we noticed many guests sleeping in deck chair around the
pool. We learned that guests on the floors above the 10th had heard
cracks in their rooms and fled downstairs. They were told to stay
outside till dawn. Our room had minor cracks in the wall and several
items had fallen onto the floor.

Downtown Istanbul was off limits because of damage and a lack of
electricity but in the area where we were there were no collapsed
buildings. There were cracks in some wals and broken glass near some
structures. The area, a middle class residential area, was newer and the
structures were sturdier. However all the stores and banks were open and
we were able to access our ATM cards.

Local residents were advised to leave their houses for safety and a tent
city grew up in the parks of the area. Many remained there for the rest
of our stay in Istanbul.

We had been sending messages to our kids over the Internet using HotMail
with no problems until the earthquake. Then we could use Hotmail but not
our POP account. Our kids called at the hotel at 3:00Am on Wed. after
many tries.

Finally on Wed. afternoon we were able to leave via our scheduled
charter plane. When we saw the destruction on CNN and local tv, we
realized how lucky we were.

Surprisingly there were no solicitation of funds from tourist from the
local Red Cross (the Red Crescent) so we had to wait to get home to
donate funds.

There was some discussion on LM_NET earlier this year as to Internet
contact while traveling abroad. I can say that in Greece and Turkey
there were available Internet cafes in every town we visited. The cost
is moderate ($1 for 15 mins. to $5 per hour) and there are usually
knowledgeable assistants to help with things like using the  keyboard
for the Turkish language. The "@" symbol shared a space with "Q" and an
extra key had to be used to access it.

Although we had a wonderful time in all the places that we visited, it
was nice to get home. Someday I would like to go back to Istanbul and
visit the rest of the 5000 shops that we missed in our short (1 hour)
visit to the Grand Bazaar.

From the safety of the Jersey Shore,
Jo

PS. Energy Sec.Bill Richardson had the same experiences as we did and
was staying at our hotel.

--
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Josephine Dervan
Library Media Specialist
Strathmore Elementary School
Aberdeen, New Jersey, USA 07747

Home - rderva@injersey.com
School - jdervan@marsd.k12.nj.us

"Anyone who has a library and a garden wants for nothing"- CICERO

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