MANILA - Filipina Caroline Cengiz huddled in a hut with her Turkish husband and family in the middle of zero degree temperatures.
Cengiz was one of the victims when the magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit South Central Turkey near the Syria border.
The first floor of the building they lived in collapsed in Hatay province.
The main things they need now: blankets, heaters, tents, water and food.
“Our colleagues are sleeping outside. It’s very cold,” said Cengiz.
According to the Philippine Embassy in Ankara, there are 248 Filipinos in the affected region, but the airports are closed and many roads have been damaged so it is still being determined how to provide aid to the Filipinos.
Two Filipinos were also reported injured.
“The area was cordoned off by the Turkish government first so we’re trying to see if there’s a go-signal that we can go there. We intend to go there physically. So we’re plotting what route we can take to go to them,” said Ambassador Maria Elena Algabre.
According to the Filipino community in Hatay, two compatriots are still being sought.
“We are still looking for his house, we went, yesterday we went there, it was the house where he collapsed, but we couldn’t contact him, his brothers-in-law are also here because his wife him,” said the leader of the Filipino community in Hatay Province, Maricel Miguel.
According to Miguel, he has conveyed the situation to the Philippine embassy.
Filipinos are encouraged to call the numbers posted by the embassy on their Facebook page to inform them of their condition and location.
— Report by Zen Hernandez, ABS-CBN News
Source: ABS-CBN News