Turkish Americans in North Texas offer help after massive earthquake strikes Turkey, Syria
NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) – A massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck southeast Turkey on Monday morning, crumbling homes, killing more than 3,800 people and leaving devastation across a wide swath of the country and into northern Syria.
"We're very concerned about the loss of life and the facts look very scary and we're concerned that the numbers will be climbing today and tomorrow," said Erdal Sipahi, president of the Turkish American Association of Northern Texas.
Like many Turkish Americans, Sipahi has been glued to the television to get updates on the devastation left behind by the earthquake. Although he does not have family or friends in the affected region, he knows friends in North Texas who have family trapped in the rubble.
"It's very, very, very tragic as you can see the buildings have collapsed you might see some videos of people being pulled and the Turkish rescue organizations are full force ahead."
In happier times, the Turkish American Association of Northern Texas (TURANT) promotes Turkish culture and supports the Turkish American community in North Texas. Now their members are coming together to find out how they can help recovery efforts on the ground in Turkey.
"Right now the most important thing is to search and rescue people that are still alive," said Sipahi. "The search and rescue people are very talented but they will need these cash donations."
TURANT is working to collect cash donations for search and rescue organizations there, and collaborating with Turkish American associations across the country to find out how to ship supplies to their homeland.
"I'm anticipating that the Turkish Airlines will form a bridge from the United States to different cities that they serve including Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston in Texas and other cities to help us carry some of the donations that people may be thinking about providing," said Sipahi. "Physical donations such as blankets, clothing, coats, winter clothes, shoes, baby supplies."
TURANT is asking for the community's help to find a warehouse where they can collect those donations in the days ahead.
"We're all volunteers, we've not faced this kind of devastation in our country in a long time," said Sipahi. "Please pray and hope for the best."
TURANT has created a list of organizations where you can send donations to help support recovery efforts: