Int'l students voluntarily help earthquake victims in eastern Türkiye

MALATYA, Türkiye

International university students voluntarily work for victims of Feb. 6 quakes in Türkiye’s eastern Malatya province.

Some Syrian students, who took shelter in Türkiye following the start of the civil war in their country and currently studying at Firat University in the eastern Elazig province, applied to the Turkish Red Crescent to become volunteers in quake-hit areas.

Nermin Silu, Cenin Ibrahim, and Lina Elbekir started to distribute meals and tea in a container city built on the Inonu University campus in the eastern Malatya province.

Silu told Anadolu that they felt panicked and fearful due to the tremors.

“All we can do today is to become a volunteer. We have been here since the earthquake. … We distribute food and play games with the children. We owe so much to the Turkish people that I cannot forget them. I always think that I owe a lot to Türkiye,” she said.

Another student, Ibrahim, said he lost his father in the Syrian war and came to Türkiye with his mother.

Stressing that he was happy to be a volunteer, Ibrahim said he tried to spend time with the children and make them happy.

Elbekir said she came to Türkiye 10 years ago. "I love helping people. Children are most affected by the earthquakes. They are very happy when we distribute various foods to them,” she added.

More than 46,100 people were killed in Türkiye by earthquakes that struck on Feb. 6, according to officials.

The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 quakes, centered in Kahramanmaras, rocked 11 provinces, including Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, Elazig, and Sanliurfa.

Around 13.5 million people in Türkiye have been affected, as well as many others in northwestern Syria.

* Writing by Gozde Bayar in Ankara.