Montreal students gather donations for Turkey earthquake survivors

“We tried our best to help,” says Kerem Ozkefeli of McGill University’s Turkish Students’ Society who's among many Montrealers sending supplies to help earthquake survivors as the death toll in Turkey and Syria keeps rising. Pamela Pagano reports.

Gloves, blankets, and canned foods – those are just a few items on McGill and Concordia’s Turkish students’ associations supply list to help earthquake survivors.

Members of the two Montreal associations are collecting donations, before loading them into a truck and sending them over to Turkey, as the death toll from the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria keeps rising.

As of Thursday morning, more than 19,000 people have been confirmed dead and tens of thousands injured.

Donations being collected by Montreal students for earthquake survivors in Turkey.

“I wish I could go there in person to help, but we’re trying to do the best we can, and this is what we can do,” said Kerem Ozkefeli, McGill student and co-president of McGill’s Turkish Student Association.

A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Turkey and Syria, and thousands of buildings collapsed. It is the deadliest quake worldwide in more than a decade.


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More than five truckloads of donations have already been collected and were flown to Turkey Wednesday night.

“We have a lot of canned foods. We have baby diapers. We have clothes, we have scarves. We have winter clothes, ski pants,” said Anger Dileklen, Turkish Students’ Society, McGill University

“It’s the same degrees in Turkey right now as in Montreal. So think you are outside in this weather for hours and it’s raining or snowing.”

Donations being collected by Montreal students for earthquake survivors in Turkey.

Search teams from more than two dozen countries have joined tens of thousands of local emergency personnel, and aid pledges have poured in from around the world.

“We all are trying to do our best for our people,” said Dileklen.

Ozkefeli adding, “We believe the more people know about this, the more the chances that we can get some help.”

McGill University’s Turkish Students’ Society says you can visit their socials for information on how you can help.

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