oh my god, i just read some news about an earthquake in turkey, are you okay??
hello anon, thank you for checking in with me! I'm thankfully not that close to KahramanmaraĹ where the M7.7 earthquake happened, me and my family made it out of our building safely and were only frightened.
For those who don't know, the southern part of Turkey (KahramanmaraĹ as the epicenter) along with northern Syria were hit by an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.7 followed by aftershocks and another wave of a 7.6 magnitude hours later. I cannot speak for what's happening in Syria but they are in dire need of help as well.
The entire region is devastated with more than 3000 deaths (and counting, news channels are hiding the real amount, or so they say) and 10s of thousands of injured and an unfathomable amount of people still stuck under the rubble, it has left hundreds of thousands homeless. The earthquake hit 4 a.m. at night, so many were caught defenseless and disoriented in their sleep.
The damage is this unbelievably devastating because the southeastern areas are criminally underdeveloped, and help cannot get anywhere in time due to collapsed roads and because the ratio of helpers to those who are in need of help are severely lacking. In some areas, people have been waiting for help for an entire day now, and no government aid has arrived.
We are in the middle of a snowstorm and people are dying of hypothermia if not from fallen buildings. Don't go searching for these videos if you're faint of heart, but I have to say that people are sending help calls and videos from under the rubble, some cities and towns still haven't received any support at all and people are still under rubble. The way their loved ones are trying to lift rocks and debris with their own hands is just... saying it's extremely upsetting is an understatement. The numbers of collapsed buildings and those fighting for life under are unfathomable.
It's so bad that Turkey has declared a state four level emergency, it's an international call for help.
Thoughts and prayers are heartwarming and mean a lot, but if you're able to donate just one dollar/euro or anything at all, please do. Turkish Lira is at an all time low right now, we are in the middle of an economic crisis. Imagine some currency is 20 dollars each, that's how bad it is.
1 dollar = 18 turkish liras
1 euro = 20 turkish liras
Therefore, this kind of money is lifechanging right now, so don't feel bad you aren't doing anything by donating so little, you're making considerable change. If you're able to help, please help.
Here are places you can donate to and explanations of the work they do
Instructions on how to donate to AFAD HERE.
Instructions on how to donate to AHBAP HERE.
Thank you for taking time to read.
