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Turkey quake relief effort on the Mall to end today

Associated Press Arizona Daily Wildcat Yildiz Ataman, an earthquake survivor, cries over the graveyard of her sister Neriman Basegmez in Yalova on Saturday, Aug. 28. Turkey's worst earthquake killed more than 13,000 and left several hundred thousand homeless.

Following the Aug. 17 disaster that left more than 14,000 dead, the UA's Turkish Student Association has garnered $6,000 and one semi-truck full of supplies since their relief campaign started last Monday.

The Wildcats for Turkey Earthquake Relief effort received most of its money from the University of Arizona community including administrators, faculty, staff and students. TSA members pitched in $1,300.

"All this money will help them start a new life," TSA President Gulcan Ercetin said. "In the long term, the money will be more useful than the short term."

Last Saturday, the organization had a "Sort, Pack and Label" party at World Care, 320 S. Wilmot Rd., to package the collected items. There were 24 volunteers who showed up and more are expected this weekend, she said.

The volunteers packed one truckload that contained 18 pallets. One pallet contained 400 to 600 pounds of supplies.

"I'm very happy with the response, we definitely need more financial donations because the damage is so huge," said Cansu Bulgu, head of the UA campaign.

Turkey suffered more damage Wednesday when another aftershock measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale hit the country. At least 166 were injured and one person was killed in Izmit, the epicenter of aftershock.

"I'm not sure if many people are coming (to donate) after the aftershock - it didn't necessarily increase (the donations)," said Ercetin, a doctorate student in language, reading and culture.

Ercetin said donations could be lacking because some people may not know about the aftershock. She added that they gathered more donations last week as a result of more media attention.

"The news, press have been very influential," Ercetin said.

Besides receiving financial donations through the mail, some wrote letters expressing their condolences and sympathies about the disaster.

"People put a couple of words about how sorry they were," she said.

Bulgu, who graduated from the University of Arizona in May, said they no longer have problems with transporting the collected items.

Circle K International, a Kiwanis community service organization, has stepped up with delivering the items collected in the residence halls and the business college to World Care. Alizar, a non-profit organization that assists other groups, has volunteered to take those items to Miami, Chicago and New York before sending them to Turkey.

Ercetin said she did not realize the severity of Wednesday's aftershock when she first heard about it.

"It was mixed feelings," she said. "This must been one of those (aftershocks), I just couldn't believe it."

Ercetin said that, because of the aftershock, it is still crucial for members of the UA community to donate supplies to TSA to help people recover from the earthquake.

TSA will collect donations up until Sept. 10, but today is the last day the booth will be on the UA Mall. For more information on the relief fund, call Gulcan Ercetin at 795-1743 or visit their website at clubs.asua.arizona.edu/~tsa