From his home in Melbourne's northern suburbs, Salih Yucel is clinging to hope that his sister could still be pulled alive from the rubble of a disastrous earthquake that struck Türkiye and Syria.
His sister, his cousin's family and his brother's wife's family remain trapped under debris in Adiyaman, about 150 kilometres from the epicentre of the magnitude-7.8 earthquake.
But he has a fervent hope that his sister, trapped under the ruin of a three-storey building, could survive.
"My sister, under the rubble, she made a noise – maybe with a piece of stone, she made noises," he said.
"She is alive. So that's a good hope for me."
For the past 48 hours, he's been waiting for "good news" that has yet to arrive.
He said rescue teams had failed to appear, lacked the necessary equipment, and were digging with their hands or any tools they could find, battling in freezing conditions.
"The roads are gone, there's no way to get there. The authorities are trying," he said.
The earthquake has claimed more than 11,500 lives — more than 9,000 in Türkiye and more than 2,600 in Syria — but the death toll continues to rise.
The World Health Organization has said as many as 23 million people could be affected.
Despite grappling with the uncertainty of his family's fate, Associate Professor Yucel, who teaches at the Centre for Islamic Studies and Civilisation at Charles Sturt University, chose not to cancel his classes with students this week.
He said he wanted to prepare them for the Islamic spiritual and emotional guidance they will be asked to provide in the course of their work.
"Teaching and training my students is the best therapy for me, to cope with such a challenge," he said.
Relief for Turkish-Australian survivor
At the Auburn Gallipoli Mosque in Western Sydney, Taner Tulpar told the ABC that his friend, a Turkish-Australian and fellow mosque attendee, was currently in Türkiye.
Fortunately, he was unharmed.
"I was very happy to hear his voice, that he was alive," he said.
"He said, 'We are still shaken all of the time because of the aftershocks.'
"He is a very nice man. Inshallah, God willing, we will see him shortly in Australia."
Monther Alhamadoosh, a Syrian man living in Australia, said his parents and two of his brothers live in the Turkish city of Gaziantep — the epicentre of the earthquake.
To his immense relief, they survived the earthquake.
"They're OK, they just lost homes. Most of them are homeless at the moment … including my parents. They all ended up stranded."
He said they were sleeping when the first earthquake struck — his father described the bed jolting and the whole building shaking.
They rushed out, forgetting their keys and phones, which made it difficult to contact them and left Mr Alhamadoosh tense for several hours while he waited for news.
His brother later sent him photos of the aftermath.
"I was really frightened when I saw the photos, because all the walls are cracked all the way from ceiling to floor," he said.
They spent the first night after the earthquake sleeping in a car, but last night moved to the basement of a mosque.
"It's been devastating for us to be honest. And there's not much we can do," he said.
That sense of despair extends to his in-laws, who still live in Aleppo, in Northern Syria.
Syria is 'being forgotten'
Syria had already been in the grip of a humanitarian crisis for more than a decade when the earthquake hit.
Community members said buildings in Northern Syria were already fragile from aerial bombardment, neglect and damage from 12 years of conflict.
Rasheed Rustom, a Syrian man living in Melbourne, said he still has uncles, aunties and cousins living in Aleppo.
"Luckily they have only been impacted materially — no loss of life or injuries," he said.
A picture of his uncle's house shows deep cracks in plaster, exposing brick underneath, and a hole in the wall with debris on the floor of his living room.
Mr Rustom said his uncle, who owns the house, was fortunately not living there, as he is in Istanbul.
He said many of his cousins and family work in the glass industry, and the damage wrought by the quake will impact their work and livelihoods.
"All their assets are tied into glass – windscreens and panes of glass, all shattered," he said.
"So not only the immediate impact, it's the livelihood of my relatives as well … it's all gone, it's all broken."
Dr Assem Al Alwani, a Syrian community leader in South Australia, described the past two days as "extremely stressful".
"Since I learnt about the news, I kept receiving all these pictures and images from people inside and people here," he said.
"It's been very difficult. In fact, this morning I received some news about a friend of mine, he's a surgeon ... him and his wife passed away under the rubble."
Dr Alwani is the leader of the Syrian community in South Australia, and he says members have already set up a fundraiser to provide financial aid for those back in Syria.
But he's concerned that help may struggle to reach affected areas.
"The roads have been destroyed and the ability for aid has been reduced as a result," Dr Alwani said.
He's urging the Australian government to continue to support the northern parts of Syria, where many live on humanitarian aid.
Australia has committed $10 million to the disaster, including $3 million destined for Syria via UNICEF.
"The community [in South Australia] is very concerned, and they are basically trying to do as best [they can] to help their relatives."
Said Ajlouni, from the Australian Syrian Association, said his group has gathered canned goods to send 750 food baskets to families in Syria.
"When I hear about people trapped under the rubble, it doesn't matter if it is my brother, my sister or my neighbour, we are all human at the end of the day and we feel that harm and suffering from these people," he said.
"Thousands of people are injured. I feel really heartbroken."
He said he was brought to tears by the news coverage, and fellow Australian Syrian Association member, Ibrahim Iyoun Alsoud, said he hoped people's hearts would be moved to help people in Syria.
"We couldn't sleep the first night, we couldn't sleep at all," he said.
"Syria is being forgotten now. But the situation is really bad."
The group already sends aid to the region, and he said they had sent 4,000 blankets to Syrians in internal displacement camps.
"These people are suffering a lot," he said.
"We are talking about a generation of kids who have been deprived even from the basic education requirement."
Kathryn Achilles, advocacy media and communications director for Save the Children Syria, said the incredible cold conditions are cause for concern.
"We are extremely concerned that many people, including children, could still be trapped under rubble," she said.
"Others are still homeless and making do with what they can, including sleeping in cars. We are particularly worried about children sleeping outside in freezing temperatures."
"The scale of the devastation means that everyone living in the affected area is impacted."
Additional reporting by Erwin Renaldi and Tracey Shelton
