Amazing and Sad, Sunflowers Grow in the Location of Former Building Ruins Due to the Turkey Earthquake

Sunflowers grow on the ruins of buildings at the location of the Kahramanmaras earthquake, Turkey. (Twitter/@ChinaDaily)

JAKARTA - A site of ruins caused by an earthquake in Turkey caught the attention of passersby nearby, after sunflowers slowly bloomed and grew pretty on it in recent weeks.

It is the site of the ruins of a dried fruit shop building in Kahramanmaras, southern Turkey, one of the provinces worst hit by two devastating earthquakes in early February.

Sunflower seeds in a destroyed shop located on central Azerbaijan Boulevard, one of the places where the victims of the February 6 earthquake took the most lives, have sprouted and towered over the ruins, reported Daily Sabah June 15.

The blooming sunflowers, which are up to half a meter long, have captivated many passers-by. Some say this unique beauty both shocks and saddens them, because so many people have lost their lives in the area.

Yahya Erden, a telephone distributor on the street who spoke to Anadolu Agency, recalled the major disaster that the city experienced more than four months ago.

Noting that before the earthquake, there was a dry fruit shop nearby, Erden was moved by the fact that sunflowers were blooming after the devastating earthquake, leaving millions of people in need of shelter across the region.

"This is a miracle from my God because the seeds that were left under the rubble during the earthquake...they bloom spontaneously. The sunflowers we used to see in the fields are now blooming in the rubble where people died. It makes us a little bit sad," he said bitterly.

Another resident, Mehmet Durna, who sells kebabs on the side of the road, remembers the many shops that were destroyed in the first earthquake.

Stating that some residents uprooted sunflowers in remembrance, Durna said: "The seeds that spilled from the dried fruit shop grew as sunflowers. It is a miracle from my Lord, (that) the flowers bloomed. With God's help, I hope our country will rise (after the disaster)," he hoped.

It is known that more than 50,000 people died in a devastating earthquake that hit southern Turkey on February 6. The 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquake centered in Kahramanmaraş Province affected more than 13 million people in 11 provinces.

Apart from that, the earthquake was also felt and caused casualties to neighboring countries, with the worst being in Syria. The earthquake was also reported to be felt in Lebanon to Israel, while the European-Mediterranean Seismological Center reported that the earthquake was also felt from Georgia to Russia.