When Melih Telci, a 28-year-old attorney from Istanbul, became aware of a household of 4 left homeless in the province of Hatay after recently’s disastrous earthquakes, he understood what he needed to do. He got his phone.
“I called them and stated; ‘Come, our house is yours,'” he stated.
Telci satisfied the household after they took a trip to Istanbul, and after that drove them to among his household’s summer season houses in Yalova, a northwestern seaside city along the Sea of Marmara. “We set them up with whatever– furnishings, clothing and food. Now, I’m dealing with discovering the daddy a task,” Telci informed Al Jazeera.
Telci’s household has 2 more summer season houses in Yalova where they want to invite more households over the next couple of days.
They are amongst Turkish households throughout the nation who are getting in touch with quake-stricken survivors through word of mouth, social networks and the assistance of regional authorities, and after that providing shelter to the earthquake victims.
I needed to assist’
Amongst those who have actually advance are individuals of Armagan town in the Black Sea province of Trabzon.
Found more than 500km (310 miles) north of the website of the fatal quakes that have actually left more than 41,000 individuals dead in Turkey and Syria, this little town of just a few hundred individuals is now hosting a number of households from Malatya– among the 10 worst-hit southern Turkish provinces.
“When the earthquake hit, I understood I needed to assist,” stated Ayse Arslan, a 51-year-old homemaker from Armagan, presently residing in Germany.
Arslan right away released a project amongst her friends and family to raise funds for food, clothes and emergency situation materials for the survivors.
When she found out about her dad’s good friends– Nafiye and Mevlut Ozdemir in Malatya, who were stranded in subzero temperature levels after their house was damaged– she understood she needed to do more.
“They remained in desperate condition. I had not much cash, however I had a flat which’s what I provided,” Arslan informed Al Jazeera, describing that she invited them into her empty home in Armagan.
“I thought of remaining in their shoes– losing whatever. I ‘d require shelter to feel safe and dignified,” stated Arslan, describing that she motivated her brother or sisters and cousins to do the exact same.
“If we’ve a single loaf of bread, we need to share it,” stated Arslan, who purchased the couple bus tickets to Trabzon.
‘Opened her entire heart’
By the time the couple made it to Arslan’s location, they had actually experienced all type of hell.
“I do not even wish to keep in mind those minutes. I shrieked till I lost my voice,” stated Nafiye Ozdemir as she stated the scary experience of the earthquake.
“Initially, we didn’t wish to accept Ayse’s deal, however we truly had no other alternative,” stated the 54-year-old homemaker. She detailed how she invested the opening night oversleeping the snow without shoes or warm clothing.
The next 3 days, the couple– Mevlut is a cancer client getting chemotherapy– invested their nights at a health center, then a school passage and lastly, holed up in a collapse the mountains.
“I am so grateful. Ayse not just opened her house to us, however her entire heart,” stated Ozdemir.
Arslan and her neighborhood in Armagan have actually considering that taken in 21 survivors from Malatya, consisting of 2 households with 6 young kids now remaining in 2 of her cousins’ flats.
With the assistance of friends and family in Germany, Arslan has actually up until now fundraised more than 90,000 Turkish lira ($4,700) to support the households, protecting whatever from clothes to food and medication.
“I desire them to be assured that what’s ours is theirs for as long as they live,” stated Arslan, describing the Ozdemir couple.
‘Our responsibility’
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has actually assured an amount of 10,000 lire ($530) for each impacted family and guaranteed to restore the damaged houses within a year.
In the meantime, the Turkish federal government is real estate survivors in university dorms, hotels, and dining establishments, along with establishing camping tents as short-term lodging.
With a frustrating requirement for immediate shelter for more than 2 million displaced individuals, according to the presidency’s price quotes, lots of volunteer groups have actually popped up throughout the nation to collaborate efforts to house the survivors.
Like lots of, Rumeysa Otoman, a 35-year-old Turkish female living in Bursa, in northwest Turkey, thinks the federal government can not carry the force of this catastrophe alone.
“The state’s doing what it can. It’s our task to action in and do the very same,” Otoman informed Al Jazeera.
She is initially from Hatay, among the worst-hit provinces in southern Turkey, where 17 members of her prolonged household were eliminated in the earthquakes. A lot more stay unaccounted for as rescue employees continue to dig through the debris of countless damaged houses.
To do her part, Otoman united with her friends and family and scheduled tickets for as numerous survivors in Hatay as she might host back in Bursa.
More than a week after the quakes, Otoman’s household is now hosting 60 survivors in Bursa and is working to bring more.
“They’ve lost whatever in a blink of an eye,” stated Otoman. “We’re one, and we’re here for them.”