Bay Area Turkish Community Races to Collect and Send Aid to Earthquake Survivors in Turkey

Almost a week after a devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake shook parts of Turkey and Syria, rescuers are racing to aid survivors. The death toll has surpassed 28,000, and tens of thousands have been left injured.

Members of the Turkish community in the Bay Area are feeling the impact of the quake and acting quickly to help survivors, amid reports of food and water shortages.

Meltem Su, a third-year undergraduate at UC Berkeley and president of the Turkish Student Association on campus, has been collecting donations to send to Turkey every day since the disaster. On Saturday, the area surrounding the group’s table on Sproul Plaza is piled high with warm clothing, sleeping bags and tents.

“Anything that can really just help heat up the human body,” Su says.

The earthquake occurred as extreme winter conditions hit the affected regions of Turkey and Syria. Su says that people who survived the collapse of buildings and debris during the earthquake are now left without shelter and face the threat of hypothermia.

Su and other Turkish students have family and friends affected by the disaster. She thinks that collecting donations to send back to Turkey is the best way to help and cope with the news from afar.

“Trying to make sure that we are doing the most as we can while taking into consideration the psychological health of our friends is a difficult task to manage,” Su says.

Another member of the Turkish Student Association, Yaren Mistacoglu, holds a sign on Sproul Plaza asking for monetary donations. She is a first-year international student from Turkey and knows people back home affected by the earthquake.

“One dollar is 20 Turkish liras, so we can collect a lot of donations from here,” she says.

Meanwhile, volunteers with the nonprofit Empowering the Turkish American Community in Santa Clara prepare donations from UC Berkeley and around the Bay Area to be flown to Turkey from San Francisco International Airport.

Selin Birik, who lived in Turkey for decades before arriving in San José, has been volunteering at the community center all week. She says volunteering has allowed her to be close to her community during the crisis.

“Even if we are miles and miles away from Turkey, we have the friends and families that are impacted,” Birik says.

Birik has spent afternoons and evenings boxing up donations to be transported.

“Every box is really valuable, including the tents, sleeping bags, and diapers and formula for the babies to make their lives easier,” Birik says.

Volunteers continue to ask for monetary donations to support the relief efforts in Turkey and Syria. The Turkish Student Association at UC Berkeley is wiring money they collect directly to Ahbap, a philanthropic nonprofit that promotes and develops local cultural and environmental projects in Turkey. Volunteers in the Bay Area’s Turkish community also are asking that donations be directed to the Turkish Red Crescent, or Kizilay, and Turkish Philanthropy Funds.