CHAPEL HILL, NC – In response to the deadly earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, the UNC Turkish Student Association is raising money for relief efforts.
So far, 40,000 people have been found dead in the rubble left from recent earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, and the number of casualties keeps growing.
“Her hometown is in ruins, like her school, just the streets that she grew up on and it just really has impacted everyone in Turkey, not just people from the area but the whole country is in a lot of pain right now,” says Ayse Baysal, an active member of the unc Turkish Student Association who talks about the earthquake striking her mother’s hometown. UNC TSA has taken it upon itself to raise money for aid by selling Turkish delicacies and snacks on campus.
Rida Bayraktar, co-president of UNC TSA, says, “beyond showing support for them and uniting with them, I felt like it has united us as a community as well.”
Ayse explains how the support they’ve received on campus has been overwhelming.“It just means a lot to know that people on your campus are supporting you and they have their thoughts and prayers with you, so that’s all we can ask for at this point,” says Ayse.
Turkey and Syria have already been facing humanitarian crises from political and civil unrest, and the impacts of earthquakes have exacerbated these countries’ dire needs. Middle eastern studies professor Cemil Aydin, who specializes, believes the Turkish government could have prevented the earthquake from being so catastrophic.
Cemil Aydin is a professor of history specializing in middle eastern studies. He says, “instead of a geopolitical conflict on the Turkish side, there is a crisis of state’s taking a leadership to prepare earthquake fault line cities for high magnitude earthquakes in the future.”
When the second earthquake hit turkey Monday, UNC TSA immediately got to work amping up its fundraising efforts.
We have more details on how to support the Turkish student association’s fundraisers on our social media.