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Local efforts continue to support earthquake victims and survivors in Turkey, Syria

“Our hearts are beating with our brothers and sisters in Turkey,” Ferhat Ozturk said.

The tragedy in Turkey and Syria is inspiring humanitarian efforts here at home.

A local Turkish organization is continuing to send supplies to their home country while mourning the friends and family they’ve lost.

“Although we are far away from them for thousands of miles, but still, we feel their desperateness. We feel their sorrow, we feel their tears,” Ferhat Ozturk said.

The images coming out of the countries are sobering, and the stories of the people impacted are heartbreaking.

“His wife lost five of their family members. They were expecting to rescue them from the rubble. But we ended up, you know, reaching their corpses,” he said.

Ozturk is the event coordinator with the Raindrop Foundation, a Turkish organization. He’s also from the Northern part of the country.

He says his family has friends that buried five of their loved ones Saturday.

“A newlywed couple. So they have a 49-day-old baby and the lady’s two sisters who are in the high school students,” Ozturk said. The two teens killed were supposed to leave the day before but decided to stay in order to help with the baby.

Their deaths are among tens of thousands of others between the two countries.

Nearly a week later, hope for survivors still trapped under concrete is waning.

“The more days passed, the more hours, the more minutes has passed. So the hopes are getting less and less, unfortunately,” Ozturk said.

Since Monday, when the earthquake happened, Ozturk says they’ve been collecting donations to send through the Turkish consulate in Houston.

“We would highly recommend to send some like baby food like, uh, some cans of foods that like nonperishable ones and as well as, like, heating elements,” he said.

Drawing on experience from the 1999 İzmit earthquake, Ozturk fears recovery from this one will take years.

With millions displaced from their homes, the Raindrop Foundation is raising money through Embrace Relief.

“With our help, hopefully, they will be able to, with our humanities help, we will be able to, you know, help them to invigorate what they have, you know, what they had before,” he said.

So far, they’ve raised more than $800,000, and their goal is to raise $1 million.

Bowls ‘N Go off of Alamo Ranch Parkway donated 100% of its proceeds Saturday to victims of the earthquake.

They’ll be doing the same this coming Thursday.


About the Authors
Leigh Waldman headshot

Leigh Waldman is an investigative reporter at KSAT 12. She joined the station in 2021. Leigh comes to San Antonio from the Midwest after spending time at a station in Omaha, NE. After two winters there, she knew it was time to come home to Texas. When Leigh is not at work, she enjoys eating, playing with her dogs and spending time with family.

Gavin Nesbitt headshot

Gavin Nesbitt is an award-winning photojournalist and video editor who joined KSAT in September 2021. He won a Lone Star Emmy, a Regional Murrow, a Texas Broadcast News Award, a Headliners Foundation Silver Showcase Award and 2 Telly Awards for his work covering the deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

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