At least three Americans are now among the thousands of lives lost in Turkey and Syria following an earthquake. The death toll has risen over 15,000.
Ozlem Gucleu, a Bay Area resident, fears her family may be among those trapped.
“I still don’t know if they’re alive or not, i still don't know many of my families if they are under the buildings or they rescued them,” she said.
Gucleu said that her sister’s home was among the buildings damaged. Piles of cement blocks and rubble that collapsed over her nieces, nephew and their parents.
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They miraculously escaped, but not without emotional scars, especially for a 9-year-old define.
“She doesn't want to do anything. She doesn't want to go into any shelter because she's afraid of being under the earthquake one more time,” Gucleu said.
Most of Gucleu’s family was living at or near the epicenter. All of them lost their homes, and many of those who were rescued hours after the quake are severely injured—with no hospital or medicine in sight.
“I'm not able to drink or eat for the last couple of days because it reminds me of all of them so when I eat something, I feel like they are not able to find food right now so I feel guilty,” she said.
Gucleu created a GoFundMe page for her family as she waits to see who else made it out and as that survival window narrows.
Families in the Bay Area are responding, no matter what their roots are.
“We went and we both clothing, blankets, medicine there's a lot of people that are suffering,” said Lisa Mckenna, who dropped off donations.
There was an entire table at sultana Mediterranean in Menlo Park that were answering the calls for help coming out of Syria and Turkey Wednesday.
Some people came with bags, checks or ideas.
“Restaurants, little hospitals, urgent care centers, we are determining what they need and if we can get it locally we are just sending money to get it,” said Nalan Güngör Özışık, president of Northern California Turkish Association
The Northern California Turkish Association has been organizing events and collecting donations since the quake hit. Apart from donations, a lot of the conversations here tonight are about what’s next and how they can work with companies to help rebuild what been destroyed half a world away.
