Communities across North East support appeal for Turkey earthquake donations

People across the North East have been showing their support for the crisis following an earthquake in Turkey.

Cengiz Ates, from Teesside's Turkish Community, is collecting donations from across Teesside which will be shipped to Manchester and then flown to Turkey.

Temperatures in some areas of Turkey have dropped to minus 10 degrees and with many survivors homeless and cold, it is hoped donations of blankets and clothes will help save to save lives.

Mr Ates said: “When you see them and you’re here in warm beds and everything and people there are waiting to die under the buildings- honestly it’s really bad.

"I’m so thankful with all of these donations. Everyone who tried to help wanted to help. Thank you so much.”

• Video report by Julia Breen.

One of the collection points that has been set up on Teesside is Norton Cafe in Stockton.

The owner of the cafe, Mustafa Alpay's family are in the badly-affected Sanliurfa area of Turkey.

Mr Alpay said: “You’ve got everything and you wake up at 4am and you’ve lost everything so no car no house no nothing so I was planning to go and see my mum last week I had some paperwork so I didn’t go. These things happen.”

People making donations at the cafe told ITV Tyne Tees: “I saw it on the news, the numbers, it's just staggering who would have thought of such a tragedy, it's awful.

“So we got blankets, coats, shoes - so pretty much everything that they’ve asked for.”

“I saw a post on Facebook last night saying they were looking for donations for the crisis in Turkey so we had a bit of a clear out.”

A powerful 7.8 magnitude quake rocked south-eastern Turkey and northern Syria on Monday 6 February at approximately 4am.

The tremors from the earthquake, which was centred about 60 miles from the Syrian border, just north of the city of Gaziantep, were felt as far away as Cairo in Egypt.

Less than ten hours later, at about 1:30pm local time, another earthquake hit around 80 miles from the first epicentre.

The current death toll is more than 11,000 people and authorities fear the death toll will keep climbing.

Where can I donate in the North East?

• Istanbul Grill, Vicarage Dr, Marske-by-the-Sea

• Turkish community centre, 35 Grainger Park road, Newcastle

• The Rusty Razor, Berwick Hills, Middlesbrough

• Norton Cafe, Cleveland Ave, Norton, Stockton-on-Tees

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