WARNING: This story contains distressing details

A Vancouver woman is coping with news she’s lost at least five relatives, who died after being trapped under the rubble following a catastrophic earthquake in Turkey and Syria.

Nural Sümbültepe is from from İskenderun, a Turkish city of about 1 million near the Syrian border. 

She had been waiting to hear about the well-being of extended family members missing in the aftermath of the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria in the early hours of Monday.

And on Tuesday, she received devastating news.

“My nephew, his wife and their nine-month-old baby, they were confirmed dead,” she said.

A brother-in-law and sister-in-law are also confirmed dead, still trapped.

“She was the best,” she said about her sister-in-law while fighting back tears. “If our country were full of women like her, our country would have been in better shape. I loved her.”

Sümbültepe’s eldest brother, aged 65, is still missing.

“It would be a miracle if they find [him],” she said.

In the four days since the earthquake, and powerful aftershocks, around 12,000 buildings in Turkey have either collapsed or sustained serious damage, according to Turkey’s Minister of Environment and Urban Planning, Murat Kurum.

Turkish officials have said that 13.5 million people have been affected by the earthquakes, and the number killed continues to climb over 20,000 as more bodies are pulled out of the rubble.

Still, there are glimmers of hope.

On Friday, rescuers shouted “God is great” and hugged each other after freeing a woman who was trapped for five days in the rubble of a collapsed apartment building in earthquake-ravaged Turkey.

On hand were members of the Burnaby Urban Search and Rescue Team, volunteers who flew into Turkey on Tuesday after getting the green light from the Turkish consulate in Vancouver. The team — the only Canadian one allowed into the country — brought high-tech cameras and other equipment to help find survivors.

“It’s incredible,” member Brodie McKenzie said of the rescue. “It’s such a rare event that you have someone who can survive these conditions.”

B.C.’s Emergency Management Minister Bowinn Ma shared news of the rescue on Twitter on Friday and said the government is “incredibly proud,” and remains in daily contact with federal authorities to provide help.

A post on the Burnaby search team’s Facebook page says it is “getting reports of trapped people messaging on their phones for help” after what it said was a long day at work.

Back in B.C., people with connections to Syria and Turkey are doing what they can to help from abroad, collecting donations and holding fundraisers.

Alper Tasdrumaz, who owns Simit Bakery, is donating a portion of his sales to organizations in Turkey helping with rescue and recovery efforts — estimating he’ll be able to share about $10,000.

“We’re trying our best,” he said.

The Canadian government has pledged $10 million in aid, and will match up to $10 million in donations through the Canadian Red Cross.

Source: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

The post B.C. woman loses family in Turkey-Syria quake appeared first on Ankara Haftalik.

The Cornwall Islamic Community Centre, in Truro, said people from across the county had offered their support.

One centre member told of his concerns for relatives impacted in both Turkey and Syria, where rescue efforts have been delayed.

More than 22,000 people have died, with thousands left homeless.

Mustafa Alkhattab, originally from Idrib in Syria and now living in Camborne, said his father-in-law is in Aleppo, Syria, while his sister is in Adiyaman, Turkey.

He said: “It’s very bad to be honest, especially in the north of Syria as they are stuck between the Turkish border and the regime.”

Mr Alkhattab said his father-in-law fled their home at 4am and 30 minutes later, they “lost their house” forcing them to find temporary accommodation in a school.

“They just escaped in time,” he added.

Meanwhile, he said the walls of his sister’s house have been “destroyed”, adding: “A lot of people are still stuck in the ground, there’s no equipment.”

“We are all us worried about them but we can’t go back to Syria or Turkey…we can send them money.”

Fellow member Zaher Dardar, originally from Damascus, in Syria, and now living in Truro, said his aunt and her family, who live in Antacya, are now in temporary housing.

He added: “Syrian people, we need help, clothes, money, baby milk. People are very, very tired now.”

Hasan Kilic, Imam at the centre and a charity organiser, said people have been “really supportive”.

He said they were trying to help people with “hot meals, food parcels and other essentials in local areas where the earthquake has taken place”.

He said the charity had a “team working on the ground” in Syria, that there were “miracle” stories of people’s lives being saved, but that people were living in tents and in “very difficult conditions”.

He added that he hoped that people’s homes would be rebuilt and they could find safe temporary housing in the meantime.

On donations, he said: “We have a lot of phone calls coming though, not just from this community.

“People very genuinely feel sorry for people in these difficult circumstances and want to help their brothers and sisters on the other side of the world.”

Source: British Broadcasting Corporation

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