A Syrian refugee living in Dundee has spoken of the horrors facing his family in Turkey after the recent devastating earthquake.
Mohammad Bay’s mum and four siblings — all refugees too — were left with nothing after last week’s 7.8 magnitude quake destroyed their homes near the epicentre in Kahramanmaras.
The disaster left them and their families living on the streets with only wooden pallets to sleep on.
Though they survived, Mohammad’s uncle sadly died in a building collapse in a nearby city alongside his wife, their four children and two grandchildren.
Almost 44,000 people are confirmed dead after a series of quakes flattened towns and cities in the region on February 6.
Mohammad: My heart sank when I saw news in Turkey
The Whitfield resident, who fled the Middle East and settled in the City of Discovery six years ago, has been desperately trying to help ever since.
He says he first heard about the situation when his wife’s sister called her from Aleppo — where the earthquake has also toppled buildings and killed hundreds.
Mohammad said: “She called my wife in a panic at 4am in Syria as she didn’t understand what was happening.
“We told her to stay outside and she should be safe.
“I quickly checked online to see what was happening and when I realised the epicentre was so close to my family my heart sank.
“The situation out there is very, very bad but I am doing what I can for my family and I am thankful my mum, brothers and sisters are safe.”
The image above shows the devastation to the area around the city’s 12 Subat stadium, which is now filled with tents to support the disaster response.
Much of Mohammad’s family had been living in now-destroyed accommodation at 95 Kuddusi Baba Blv, just metres from the football ground to the north west.
In Kahramanmaras alone nearly 1,000 buildings have collapsed and more than 600 people have died.
The city — 80 miles from the Syrian border — is home to tens of thousands of Syrian refugees with an estimated 1 in 10 hailing from the neighbouring war-torn nation.
The image above shows the street where Mohammad’s family lived, looking from the direction of the stadium.
Mohammad added: “They feel stuck where they are because they were living in a building for refugees and now they have nothing else.
“We have managed to get some of them a safe place to stay for now in Urfa (a city around 130 miles east of Kahramanmaras), including my mother, brother and the younger children.
“I speak to them every day but we don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow; nobody knows.”
Sending money to help family
The 38-year-old city bus driver is using a chunk of his wages to support them through the crisis.
That includes sending money to his friend in the nearby city of Gazientep to allow him to send a car to collect his mum, 65, and other family members to take them to safety.
To make matters worse, his brother’s wife is pregnant and is due in around 40 days.
Both Mohammad and wife Sabah Taha still have numerous friends and family members living in the border areas of Turkey and Syria who have all been affected by the tragedy.
The former accountant says many now feel horrors are following them no matter where they live.
He said: “They still feel better than others because they are still alive and they try not to complain.
“But with the war in Syria as well, it’s true they can’t understand why all these problems are following them.
“I am trying to do as much as I can to help but I am so far away and I don’t have enough money to do everything I need to do.”
On Thursday — more than 10 days on from the earthquakes — people are remarkably still being pulled out alive from the rubble.
Conversation