Follow the latest news on the earthquake in Turkey and Syria
Ahmad sleeps on a small mattress on the ground protected by a blue tarpaulin he attached to his car, while his two young daughters sleep in the back of a car.
Around him, dozens of families are staying in the same car park turned into a makeshift settlement, some huddled in tents, others in cars.
“We have nothing left and the government barely helped us,” said Ahmad, 42, whose house collapsed in the massive twin earthquakes that shook southern Turkey and parts of northern Syria last week, killing at least 37,000 people.
This is the scene in Samandag, a coastal town in southern Turkey near the Syrian border in the province of Hatay, where earthquake survivors are fighting for tents.
“I just want to have a decent place for them to sleep," Ahmad said of his children. "We sometimes bring them to the hospital so they can have some rest in this freezing cold.”
Hatay province is one of the regions worst affected by the earthquake and its aftershocks.
Ahmad is mourning five members of his family. Turkey's official disaster relief agency Afad finally pulled the last body from the rubble a week after the disaster. Ahmad said his family might still be alive if they had arrived earlier in the city.
“It took them 48 hours to come, it was slower than everywhere else,” he said.
“They left us to die here, all hope is gone, life has ended here,” he added, his voice breaking and tears filling his eyes. “I have no words left.”
Every day is a struggle for survival for the father of two. “We lost our loved ones, for them it’s over, for those left the pain is only starting for us,” he said.
A town left behind
More than a week after the catastrophe, there is still little presence of government assistance in the city, home to Armenian, Alawite, Christian and Arab minorities.
Residents of Samandag say authorities have failed them. Much of the humanitarian aid that came to distribute food, medicine and clothes are co-ordinated and distributed by local NGOs and political and religious groups. The town’s mayor, they said, has not even shown up since the earthquake.
Yet the city has been devastated. In the centre, most of the buildings are reduced to ruins. The usually busy streets are now empty, filled with rubbish, broken glass and debris.
Most of the residents with families in other cities have left. Those who stayed are waiting for bodies to be pulled out or contemplating with grief what they have lost.
On the side of a heap of rocks, a woman is searching under the rubble of what used to be her house. “It’s a souvenir,” she said, showing children’s toys in her hands.
Looting is now taking place to add to the desolation.
“The broken windows here, they are not from the earthquake: I saw with my own eyes people entering damaged shops to steal anything they could find,” said Baris Yapar, a 27-year-old student from Samandag, pointing at a boutique with a pile of shoeboxes cluttering the entrance.
As he walks through deserted streets to where his grandfather's house once stood, a police officer asks him to leave, warning that the remaining buildings might collapse at any moment.
“Where were they when people were dying under the rubble?” he asked with frustration.
'I could still hear their voices'
Left on their own, civilians had no other choice but to dig through the rubble and carry their loved ones to the grave.
Baris's father, Habip Yapar, said they waited 60 hours before official emergency rescuers finally pulled out his parents' bodies from their collapsed building.
"We called everyone we could for help, NGOs, political parties. They said they were coming but no one showed up,” the father said. With no one to help, they had to dig themselves out of the collapsed house in the pouring rain.
“I could still hear their voices on the first day; they were alive,” he said.
When the rescue teams finally reached the town two days later, they did not have the appropriate equipment to delve through the debris.
"We gave them a generator, a driller and the other tools they needed,” Habip said.
Hours later, they finally accessed the bodies. But it was too late, his parents did not survive.
He said he could see his mother's corpse lying half outside the debris for hours before the rescuers could pull her out completely.
“They came so late, it's like they never came,” he said.
The family called the municipality for a funeral carriage but no one answered.
"We had to carry the corpses in body bags in the trunk of a car to the morgue,” Habip said.
A few days later, he returned to the morgue where he found a crowd of mourning families searching for their dead relatives to bury them. He had to open several body bags before finding those of his parents.
"We did everything on our own: first, we uncovered our dead, then we carried them to the grave,” Baris said.
The family slept in their vehicle in the car park in front of the quake-damaged house, around other makeshift settlements. Baris said they had to stay close by because of looting in the area.
"We are constantly watching in case someone tries to break in," he said.
He said they would soon move to a tent which his father is setting up.
"We also had to buy it ourselves thanks to parents and friends,” he said.
Frustration and despair
For Samandag residents, the slow emergency response from the central government raises painful questions.
They said Hatay province, unique in Turkey for its richness of culture and various sects, has been historically overlooked by authorities.
The Samandag municipality, they said, is affiliated with Turkey's main opposition party.
On social media, the dire situation sparked unconfirmed rumours that aid from associations belonging to the opposition were blocked, while officials from Samandag district were accused of stealing relief sent by the central authorities.
But as they are mourning their dead, some are cautious to engage in political speculation.
"I don't know why we are left behind,” said Habip. "I would rather think it's pure incompetence than discrimination. But the result is the same: we had to do everything on our own."
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The years Ramadan fell in May
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
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Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
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Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
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Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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The five pillars of Islam
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Ziina users will be able to use the app to help relief efforts in Beirut, which has been left reeling after an August blast caused an estimated $15 billion in damage and left thousands homeless. Ziina has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to raise money for the Lebanese capital, co-founder Faisal Toukan says. “As of October 1, the UNHCR has the first certified badge on Ziina and is automatically part of user's top friends' list during this campaign. Users can now donate any amount to the Beirut relief with two clicks. The money raised will go towards rebuilding houses for the families that were impacted by the explosion.”
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
PROFILE OF SWVL
Started: April 2017
Founders: Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport
Size: 450 employees
Investment: approximately $80 million
Investors include: Dubai’s Beco Capital, US’s Endeavor Catalyst, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, Property Finder CEO Michael Lahyani
