The Turkish Association Of South Australia Experiences Dark Time After The Earthquake

The Turkish association of South Australia has established Facebook groups and online fundraising to support the local community after a massive earthquake in central Türkiye and northwest Syria on the 6th of February 2023, killing more than 7,000 people.   

Tanya A. KAPLAN OAM, the president of the Turkish association of South Australia, said the organization has established both English and Turkish-speaking groups on Facebook to help people who are affected by the disaster. 

“We all obviously are feeling terrible about this disaster. Everyone, almost everyone has families and friends and relatives in Turkey, some of them lost their lives, and some lost their houses,” she said. 

“It's a terrible thing and as an association, we are going through very dark, very bad times.”

- Tanya A. KAPLAN OAM

Members of the Turkish association of South Australia are now under huge pressure and feel helpless towards the current situation. The association has many Australian-born members who have links to Turkey and Turkish people.

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Tanya also has a cousin who works as a doctor in hospitals in Turkey. She said many airports are forced to close due to the damage, and many hotels in Turkey open their doors to people who lost their homes.  

“They (members from the association) are stressed and they feel helpless. They don't know what to do when you are so many kilometers away,” she said. 

“You can't really do anything except just ring up, and find out how they are.” 

Tanya said the purpose of the fundraising is to provide financial support to victims of the earthquake in the following ten cities located in the eastern and southern parts of Turkey, including, Kahramanmaras, Malatya, Gaziantep, Hatay, Adana, Kilis, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Sanliurfa, Osmaniye.  

“We try to do some fundraising and as soon as we have some money, they are going to send it to a very trustworthy, respectable organization there so they can get some help.” 

Tanya also suggests people who need help reach out through the association website and join the Facebook group on the Turkish association of South Australia.  

All the funds will be donated directly to the following active organizations in the area: 

AKUT (Search and Rescue Association) https://www.akut.org.tr/en 

AFAD (Disaster and Emergency Management) https://en.afad.gov.tr 

AHBAP Support Platform https://ahbap.org 

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