Turkey earthquake hits close to home for Warrnambool family

The Turkish town of Kahramanmaras was hit by a magnitude 7.8 earthquake on Monday, badly impacting parts of neighbouring Syria as well.

The death toll following the earthquake has risen to more than 20,000 people in both countries.

"If I wasn't working, I'd definitely go and help out," Mr Zehir, who now lives in Warrnambool with his wife Alison, said.

"But, on the other hand, I watch all the channels on cable television and the government is saying we have enough help."

Mr Zehir said his second cousin, who he grew up with for about 15 years, lives in Kahramanmara.

He said his cousin's wife and 20-year-old daughter died in the earthquake but their son, who was in the same building at the time, survived.

Mr Zehir's uncle was also impacted by the earthquake.

"My uncle went to visit his son, daughter-in-law and grandson in Gaziantep in a high rise building and they were on the 19th floor and all survived," he said.

"They are living in their cars and haven't been back in the house yet.

"I don't know what will happen, if they will go back to Ankara or not, I haven't heard from them."

Mr Zehir said his mother and brother lived in Ankara, 450 kilometres away from the epicentre of the earthquake.

They felt the aftershock just hours after the initial incident.

"Immediately I started to try and connect with them but because it destroyed the telecommunications towers and internet connection and all that, it took me two days to get some news from my family," he said.

Mr Zehir said he finally heard from others that one of his cousins who lived in the town of Hatay was fine two days after the quake.

"The rest of my family who live in Turkey were fine because they live hundreds of kilometres away in Ankara and Istanbul," he said.

Mr Zehir said so many people had been caught up in the earthquake with no chance to escape.

"The scary part is when you look at the aerial shot of the region, I'm thinking that the death toll will reach 60,000," he said.

Mr and Mrs Zehir were living in Turkey in 1999 when the most deadly earthquake at the time killed 17,500 people. The couple conduct tours to Turkey and said they would be back supporting the country in May.

IN OTHER NEWS

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: