Sinan and Kadir distribute food in Turkish disaster area: “It’s really terrible”

Sinan, 31, has traveled with his friend Kadir to the area, which was so hit by the devastating earthquake at the beginning of the week. A push message announcing the earthquake was the start of an unprecedented adventure. With only one goal: helping people.

So Sinan and Kadir landed early Wednesday morning in the Turkish city of Konya. “We took my dad’s van, which he uses on vacations.” This was filled to the brim with everything needed. “Think of baby food, pampers, meals. We raised money, through our own network and through appeals on social media. Last night we drove east.” To Adiyaman, to be exact. “We heard that few relief goods arrived in that city because it is difficult to reach for large equipment, that’s why.”

On Thursday morning they arrived in one of the suburbs. “We found a complete devastation, it is really terrible. You see family members crying at the rubble and aid troops who are still looking for people. Nine more people were liberated last night, but there are not enough aid troops to help everyone You also hear people shouting at collapsed buildings: ‘Do you hear me, do you hear me?!’. It gives a very powerless feeling. It hurts a lot. It looks like a bad movie we ended up in.”

The West Frisian mini-convoy with food is accompanied by a local agent, who knows where help is most needed. And thanks to the donations, Sinan and Kadir can go ahead for a while. “Euro 16,000 has been collected so far and that will continue for a while. So we can do our shopping at least ten more times.”

adrenaline

Sinan has now been working continuously for almost two days. “A certain kind of adrenaline is released, so you can easily continue. We are not thinking about sleeping yet,” it sounded on Thursday. “We’ll go shopping again later.”

Sinan: “We plan to stay at least until Saturday, but maybe we will stay longer. We will continue to distribute food. Everything is welcome here. We just gave a chocolate to a child, who started to smile. Small things like that have already made our mission successful.”