Hakan Sandir has waited two days for his phone to ring, hoping to hear good news about family members he fears are buried under the wreckage in Hatay, one of the Turkish cities devastated by Monday’s earthquake.
As the hours pass, his optimism wanes. In a single phone call, he heard that his uncle, aunt, and cousin were killed when their home fell. Other family members and friends remain unaccounted for.
“We are waiting to learn what happened to them,” said Sandir, a Princeton-based classroom support teacher. We simply pray and wait.
Families in New Jersey with ties to Turkey and Syria are attempting to make touch with loved ones to see if they survived one of the deadliest earthquakes in recent history. Monday’s 7.8-magnitude earthquake has killed at least 7,700 people, and the death toll is expected to grow when rescuers reach further locations.
Electricity, the internet, and cell phone coverage are restricted, and massive destruction has made it challenging for rescue crews to reach affected communities.
Fatih Yanik, a native of Garfield and student at Bergen Community College, discovered from a doctor-relative-volunteer that two relatives had perished beneath the wreckage of their home in Kahramanmaraş, a city in southern Turkey.
Another 9- or 10-year-old cousin and his uncle remain trapped, but rescue teams have not yet reached them. He stated that neighbours are attempting to assist, but big slabs and pillars from collapsed structures require machinery to be moved.
Yanik stated, “I hope they are alive, but I don’t believe the likelihood is high.” “The temperature is so frigid that they could have frozen to death beneath the rubble. It had been nearly two days already.”
Yanik also posted a photo of his grandmother on social media and asked if anyone had seen her. Alzheimer’s hospital patient, she could not be located after the earthquake. The college student stated that he feels like he is “just existing” as he awaits news concerning his old community.
“Everyone is praying for the victims and sending them donations,” he stated. It is quite sad.
The mayor of Prospect Park, Mohamed Khairullah, stated that his relatives in Aleppo, another Syrian city impacted by the earthquake, still have their homes. However, he has not heard from a close buddy he described as a Syrian man who “aided in the rescue of many and is now in need of rescue.”
Khairullah stated that his friend, a refugee support worker residing in Antakya, Turkey, had helped him find transportation and obtain supplies when he visited Syria to offer aid.
Khairullah stated that every minute is crucial for saving his life and the lives of hundreds of others like him.
“The most important thing to do right now is to dispatch heavy equipment to remove as much debris as possible and to attempt to rescue as many people as possible before death catches up with us,” he said. Before we lose hundreds more lives, the entire world must immediately pay attention to this issue.
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