For Earthquakes Survivors Under Risk
Donation protected
My name is Sena Karatas. I am a Ph.D. student at Florida State University in the United States. I created this fundraising page with my friend Gizem Solmaz Ratzlaff who is a Ph.D. student at Florida State University in the United States.
As you know, the magnitude 7.8 and 7.5 quakes struck Turkey 2 times, and aftershocks are still continuing. It affected 10 cities and many counties. Its epicenters are my hometown ‘Kahramanmaras’ and ‘Elbistan’. My family is alive, but many friends and neighbors are trapped under the rubble. The situation is very tragic. They are waiting for help.
It is freezing cold outside. My brother-in-law and his wife, their newborn, and two kids waited in the outside for more than 76 hours. Their houses collapsed, and they could not get any clothes or food before leaving. We know many relatives and neighbors in this situation. They need our help with shelter, diapers, water, food, and blankets. If you want to help from direct hands, please help us.
Gizem graduated from Middle East Technical University. She personally knows students in need from her college who were already in financial need before the earthquake happened. Those students are pursuing their education through Turkish Education Foundation (TEV) (https://www.tev.org.tr/homepage/en). Among these students, 5 of them are in immediate need.
- Beyza (a senior studying mathematics education) lost her house and everything she had in this unfortunate disaster. Beyza lives with three other family members
- Selim (a junior studying electrical engineering) lost her house and everything he had in this unfortunate disaster. Selim lives with six other family members
- Deniz Hasan, (a sophomore studying business) lost her house and everything he had in this unfortunate disaster. Deniz Hasan lives with four other family members
- Sakine (a freshman studying architecture) lost her house and everything she had in this unfortunate disaster. Sakine lives with two other family members
- Irem (a sophomore studying science education) lost her house and everything she had in this unfortunate disaster. Irem lives with three other family members
These students were able to save their life in this terrifying event, however, to be able to continue their life, they need our help. The US Dollar goes a long way in Turkey; that's why we started this fundraiser. We are hoping to impact a total of 30 people's (Beyza, Selim, Deniz Hasan, Sakine, Irem, and Sena's brother-in-law including their families) lives and help them to start building their lives again. The money that we are fundraising will be distributed equally among 6 families.
We did not share these students' last names to protect their privacy. However, we will be sharing photos once the donations were distributed among the people we are talking about on this fundraising page with the donators.
We believe we have many good people around us who can support us during these difficult times.
Feel free to contact us for any concerns.
Co-organizers (3)
Sena Karatas
Organizer
Tallahassee, FL
Gizem Solmaz
Co-organizer
Lutfi Ozturk
Co-organizer