More than 11,000 people have died and thousands more have been injured after Monday’s massive earthquakes, which rocked southern and central portions of Turkey, as well as western Syria.
Nuşin Van Winkle has been in contact with family in Turkey via WhatsApp. Many of her relatives live in Antakya, where entire buildings have been destroyed.
“When I learned, I was devastated,” she said. “I have so many friends, relatives that I’m concerned for.”
First, she heard about a cousin’s wife who was trapped under a collapsed building. Then later, she learned she’d been rescued.
Then came the news of an uncle and cousin stuck under rubble. She said her cousin was able to notify other family members on her cell phone where she was located. Residents on the ground found her and took video of her.
“They talked to her. She’s talking back. And actually, you can see her and they told her to wave her hand and she’s waving her hand,” Van Winkle said. “Watching all that and not being able to do anything, it’s very, very heartbreaking for me.”
Yakınlarımızın hayatta olduklarına eminiz, sadece sesimizi duyurmamız ve afadın bize ulaşması gerekiyor hava çok soğuk. Lütfen yardım edin #HATAY
— SS (@seherov) February 6, 2023
Sümerler mah belediye evleri a/3 blok pic.twitter.com/fK1rWJSsUv
Van Winkle, who’s director of physiology at Parker University in Dallas, said every minute counts. There’s snow and they’ve had freezing rain.
Her uncle, who’s with her cousin, is in his 80s and she doesn’t know what condition he’s in. She only knows several other people can be heard under the same rubble.
Van Winkle’s mom also lives in Turkey, but in a different part of the country that wasn’t severely affected.
“She’s emotionally devastated,” she said. “She’s like feeling also hopeless because there’s nothing they can do, just to pray and try to support as much as possible in their abilities financially.”
Another uncle, she said, made it out of his building but is now sleeping in his car with only the clothes on his back.
“When they left their houses, some of them, they just left with their pajamas,” she said. They don’t have their coats. They don’t have their phones. And when the houses are gone, everything is gone with them.”
The Turkish Society of Texas is collecting items and financial donations through its website.
President Şaduman Gürbüz said her group is coordinating with the Turkish Consulate in Houston, which in turn is working with Turkish Airlines to deliver supplies.
She said financial donations are easier to work with, but the group’s website also has a list of items, such as coats, blankets and medical supplies.
“They need a lot of medical devices,” Gürbüz said. I’m heartbroken how many devices that they need.”
The Turkish Society of Texas is also hosting a 3-hour cooking class on Sunday to raise money for the earthquake victims. The cost to register is a $75 donation.
“People can come to this cooking class and taste Turkish food, whatever we cook and eat it together and then support our earthquake relief,” Gürbüz said
Gürbüz lost several family members during the 1999 massive earthquake that killed more than 17,000 people.
She said it took a long time to shake the images of that devastation from her mind. When she heard about Monday’s quake, she had flashes of what happened in 1999.
Gürbüz’s family lives in the northern part of Turkey. She said they felt the ground shake but are okay. Still, she can’t stop thinking about everyone else.
“I couldn’t go to sleep,” she said. “When I heard it happened to more than 10 cities…thousands and thousands of buildings collapsed,” she said. “We don’t know months from now what type of scenes we’re going to see. That is scary.”
The Turkish American Association of North Texas also has information on its website of how people can help earthquake victims.
In a statement, the American Red Cross said the Turkish and Syrian Red Crescent teams are on the ground providing assistance in the hardest hit areas.
“At this time, the American Red Cross has not received blood product requests for Turkey and Syria — and therefore are not collecting blood in the U.S. to go to those affected by the devastating earthquakes.”
The statement said the Red Cross would ship blood products if it received a request from the government or affected Red Cross society, and that it was standing by to offer support.
The Red Cross also provided this information for those interested in helping:
How to Find a Missing Loved One
Those unable to get in touch with U.S. citizens missing in Türkiye or Syria should contact the U.S. Department of State Overseas Citizens Services Office online or at 1-888-407-4747. More information can be found here.
At this stage of the disaster, the Turkish Red Crescent and Syrian Arab Red Crescent are not actively connecting missing families. Instead, they are focusing on the immediate needs of those affected by the earthquakes, supporting search and rescue efforts, providing meals and distributing relief packages to people who have been impacted. When the Red Crescent teams in the region have the capacity to provide Restoring Family Links services, the American Red Cross will be notified.
Donating Supplies
While we are grateful for the outpouring of support, it’s important to know that neither the American Red Cross nor our global Red Cross and Red Crescent partners are accepting the donation of in-kind goods such as food, clothing, blankets or toys at this time. These items can be difficult to manage on the ground and divert resources from our mission. Other charitable organizations are better suited to manage such donations.
The Turkish Embassy and Turkish Consulates are accepting in-kind assistance. Those interested are asked to send donations of blankets, tents, sleeping bags, pocket warmers, winter clothing and over-the-counter medications for flu, cold, and pain killers to Turkish Embassy and Turkish Consulates across the U.S. by mail or through in-person drop off.
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Got a tip? Email Stella M. Chávez at schavez@kera.org. You can follow Stella on Twitter @stellamchavez.
