A Turkish cafe owner in Bristol has told how his friends in the earthquake-hit region have 'lost count' of the number of bodies they've retrieved. Josh Aklan, the co-owner of Laila in Church Road, says when he heard the news last week of the deadly earthquake in Turkey and Syria, he immediately tried to contact his friends living in the affected region.
Almost two weeks after the disaster, the confirmed death toll has passed 41,000 with the United Nations expecting that number to double. Josh said that his friends who are helping rescue efforts on the ground believe the death toll will rise more still.
“I have a friend who lives in a city next to Adana in southern Turkey. The first thing I did when I heard the news was I called him and after two or three days he replied and said there is no connection or electricity and no water.
READ MORE: Bristol bakery donating all of Saturday's profits to Turkey's earthquake appeal
“Half of his city has been destroyed. He is trying to help people," said Josh, who has now set up a collection for the earthquake survivors at Laila. Josh tries to keep in regular contact with his friend living in southern Turkey, but due to their difficulty in charging their phones and getting signal, he often has to wait a few days for a reply.
One friend who has been helping to carry bodies out of the rubble sent Josh a video, revealing that there is little left of his city. Josh said: “It’s scary, I can’t talk too much [with my friend], he doesn’t answer very often, only when he can charge his phone. We send the money to an organisation we trust and we know they do a good job.
“My friend said he can’t count the number of dead bodies he has carried. These two earthquakes were the biggest ones and there are 10 cities on top of the tectonic plates with a total of 30 million people living there. Small earthquakes happen everyday. In this country if you want to build you need to get permission from the council but in Turkey builders don't need those regulations."
The Turkish Community Centre on Gloucester Road was inundated with donations of warm clothes last week, which were then sent to those struggling in freezing temperatures in the aftermath of the deadliest earthquake to hit Turkey in 40 years. With the support of mosques in Bristol, who held collections, alongside countless other Bristolians, the city has been generous in its efforts to help those impacted.
The Erdogan government in Turkey, which oversaw an amnesty programme in 2018 which allowed contractors to build without the enforcement of planning permission regulations, has come under fire from opposition parties who say he has 'turned houses into graves'. As the president Erdogan prepares for a general election later this year he has turned on the contractors themselves and handed out over 100 arrest warrants.
The country has seen many earthquakes over the years, which are expected given the combination of tectonic plates that cross Turkey. For neighbouring Syria, which so far has seen over 3,000 fatalities, the ongoing civil war means many people impacted were already vulnerable and displaced in refugee camps.
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