Did the Earth Move For You Darling? (True story) (standard:other, 1101 words)
Author: Ian Hobson	Added: May 29 2004	Views/Reads: 3942/2192	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
It was rumoured that, within two days, some enterprising Turkish businessman had tee-shirts, printed with the words ‘I SURVIVED THE MARMARIS EARTHQUAKE’, on sale – though we never actually saw any.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

their various hotels and apartments were not there; having decided to 
abandon the trip, and in some cases the rest of their holiday. 

On the coach, our guide, whose name was Hamdi, was studying a map, much
of which, I noticed, was coloured red.  I asked him what the red 
colouring meant - though I had a good idea – and he explained that the 
red areas, which included Marmaris and Icmeler, were known to be 
earthquake-prone.  I advised him to keep that information to himself. 

Our trip, to Fethiye and Oludeniz, went well, despite all the talk of
the earthquake and the Wimbledon train crash, which by coincidence had 
happened the same morning.  And what was left of the holiday went well 
too.  Though going to bed at night required a certain amount of 
courage, especially as many of the locals were sleeping in their 
gardens or on their boats.  We learned this from a family who lived 
near our apartments; as walking back from the town each evening, we 
would find them sitting outside in the street; and typical of the 
Turks, they'd offer us a seat and some apple tea, and we'd sit a chat 
with them for a while. 

Their fears, of course, were increased by knowledge of more severe
earthquakes that had happened in the north earlier in the year.  Quakes 
that had destroyed towns and killed and injured many people.  By 
comparison the Marmaris earthquake had been small; the only injuries 
caused by panic, as a few people jumped from first-floor windows and 
balconies. 

It was already October, and we wondered what our Turkish neighbours
would do when the cold and wet weather arrived.  We would soon be going 
home - well tanned and with a story to tell - but sooner or later they 
too would have to overcome their fear and sleep indoors. 

So... would we go back to Turkey?  You bet!  And would we like to
experience another earthquake?  Err, no thanks.  We've been there, done 
that and, well no, we didn't actually buy the tee-shirt. 


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