More than 20,000 people have been killed in the disastrous earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria this week, and tens of thousands have lost their homes. Bristol resident Selahattin Şep decided he had to do something to help. He started a GoFundMe to help survivors in southeastern Turkey, where he grew up. Morning host Luis Hernandez spoke with Şep about his fundraiser, and what he’s hearing from people on the ground.
Click here for Şep’s GoFundMe page.
This conversation has been edited for time and clarity.
Luis Hernandez: You’re from southeast Turkey.
Selahattin Şep: I am from Diyarbakır, one of the one of the, like–
Hernandez: Hardest hit places?
Şep: One of the, one of the.
Hernandez: What do you know about, what have you heard about the sort of damage that’s occurred there?
Şep: Oh, like I lost so many family members. I mean, what we call family, even even our neighbors are family, our like friends are family. And my mother, father, sister, brother [are] okay, but they’re out of the street with my older great grandmother. And my two-year-old niece outside in the freezing cold. But so many people stuck under the building. Like, we count about, like, over 100 buildings in my city. And each building has like about 40 houses. And we have big families, each family has about like 10, 12 people in the house. And if you calculate that, it’s still a massive amount of people. That’s why, that’s why like I don’t think any separation is necessary. Oh, these people get biggest hit, those people get littlest hit – life is life. Everybody needs care. Everybody needs support.
Hernandez: What are some of the other things that you’re hearing from friends and family back at home?
Şep: There’s no help over there. And people need food. People need like shelters, and babies need diapers. Older people need some medication. And they can’t go inside of their house, they can’t get their stuff out, they can get their blanket out. And everybody’s on the street outside right now. … I mean, people [are] transporting their dead bodies with motorcycles.
Şep: Government is not there. They’re on the side of the road. Nobody’s taking the dead bodies to hospital or any place. In western city, in the middle of the winter, they’re sending summer T-shirts. And rescue team, not around. And there’s, the work machine came over there. They’re not letting any civil people to use this rescue machine, like excavators and other things. And also they’re not sending any drivers. And people under the building. And just local people cannot take them out. They’re putting blankets around them to be warm, not freezing, freezing cold. … I brought some pictures. There’s – people put food, drink and so, so those kids or people can be over there.
Hernandez: Just to mention, because you’re showing me pictures. There’s a picture you’re showing me of a child who was in the rubble, and they put a blanket around them and they’ve given him water. They can’t move him from there, so they’re just giving him what he needs?
Şep: Because there is no machine.
Hernandez: Wow.
Şep: So many people saying, I wish I would be an excavator. You know, like a cartoon show, kids say, “Oh, I’m a dinosaur. I’m a dragon.” People, like grown-ups right now, [are] thinking this way. Because people [are] helpless. People can’t do anything. You can see people under the building, you can hear them. Like, that’s, that’s crazy. And only you can see civil people trying to help. You can’t see any rescue team there.
Hernandez: So the money that you raise–
Şep: Yeah, I’m not sending, I’m not sending directly through the bank account. I take my plane ticket, I will go over there. And I will help people, and I will donate by hand to those local organizations. And I’m gonna, I’m gonna work over there.
Hernandez: You’re gonna take whatever you get.
Şep: Exactly.
Hernandez: And you’re just going to use it. Do it yourself.
Şep: Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
Hernandez: So you’re gonna go there, and you’re gonna bring as much as you can, I imagine?
Şep: I’m gonna bring basically what we raise in our fundraiser, yeah. And I already talked to three organizations. And there’s, there’s one of – famous singer create an organization, and they’re really clear, and they’re really like transparent for their help. And I’m gonna donate, like, partially over there. But when I’m there, I’m going to donate by hand directly to the charity. And also, we are going to donate a little bit for AFAD, AFAD which is rescue team. And also there’s like a, we call Halkevleri. It’s older, one of our older organizations. They’re like neighborhood people. And they became like a huge charity, like they’re helping for every, every situation. And they’re they’re a socialist organization. And we’re gonna go over there and donate a little bit for them because they’re in different parts of the cities. We don’t want to just, “this money go to help only Kurdish cities.” We want also to go to Turkish cities or Arab cities, and we are going to send some to Syria, too.
Hernandez: When you get there, do you have a plan, how you’re going to do this?
Şep: I already, I already set up the shelter. Like we get basically a whole private school. And there’s 50 classrooms inside. And classrooms are big, and they separate for two families each classroom. And basically, each family have like 10-plus family members. And we set up already soup and everything. And also families are in a warm place. … And I wish I could have more, than I could help more. And I’m going there, my main plan, I already talked to like about 10 restaurants, and they’re gonna make like 24-hour fresh food, soup and beans, like good protein for the people. And also like warm tea, like in this weather condition, they can have tea. And also we’re gonna go grab some diapers and other things. Yesterday I talked [to] a blanket company like out of Diyarbakır, my city. And we forward them like about a truckful of blankets for the tent area. And also we set it up already 50 tents from the local people, and they bring their money together, and we set up like warm tent constructions. Because, because beginning of the earthquake, I sat up like whole night, I couldn’t sleep, I’m trying to reach everybody. And I cried and I got emotional. And I say, I can’t do that. I can just act dramatic over here. I say I have to do something.
