Turkey’s Earthquake … one of the worst natural disasters of this century strikes a place of courage and resilience … sana sevgilerimi gönderiyorum
February 8, 2023
On Monday I landed in Istanbul for a two-day work trip. 4 hours later, the earthquake struck. 4am. It was 1000 km away, I felt nothing from my hotel bed.
At breakfast, a few hours later, people were staring intently at their mobile phones. I didn’t have time to catch the news as I woke, and at that time nobody was reporting the scale of what had happened.
Taking in such a disaster is not easy.
My Turkish hosts were deeply concerned, but wanted to keep going. We started as planned at 9am.
We tried to explore what we could do to help. The textile business who I was working with wanted to send a million items of warm clothing immediately. The logistics of doing so were much less clear. But soon plans started to swing into action. To leverage the resources of the business, to do what we could.
3 days later, now sitting in Sweden, and the true scale of what happened is now much more apparent. I have been reflecting on how to best express my feelings on this week’s tragedy in Turkey and Syria, one of the worst natural disasters of this century.
Turkey is close to my heart. I have many friends there. In fact I’ve been visiting for almost 20 years, almost since the last huge earthquake. That time much closer to Istanbul.
I deeply admire the people, their history, their courage, their stories. They certainly don’t have an easy time.
It is very difficult to speak about such a disaster, it takes time to process, and you wonder what you can do from a distance. Yet we all can take urgent action to contribute towards minimizing the impact of this terrible event.
My friends in Turkey have recommended to donate through AKUT or Ahbap in order to make sure help gets directly and fast to the people who need it most. In the UK, donations are being coordinated by DEC.
Together we can help each other in times of need, and over time, work to make the world a better place.
I’m sending my best wishes to all my friends in Turkey, at this incredibly challenging moment.
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