Winnipeg family mourning loss of relatives from Turkiye earthquake

A Winnipeg family is in mourning after two relatives were killed by an earthquake that caused destruction across southeast Turkiye and neighbouring Syria.

Allan Emre said his wife’s niece and her baby were killed in the Turkish city of Adiyaman. Their bodies were found in the rubble following the 7.8-magnitude earthquake on Monday morning.

“So far in our family, we have two deaths, and we still haven’t communicated with the entire family yet. It’s devastating,” Allan said in an interview on Monday.

He added his mother-in-law was trapped in her unit for eight hours, but was eventually rescued.

Allan said his mother-in-law is currently doing all right; however, she’s without shelter in the cold.

“Thank goodness she’s safe now,” he said.

Allan added he still has many family members he hasn’t heard from, and doesn’t know whether they’re alive.

“Even though they’re in the district, because of the chaos, communication has been very low,” he said.

Nametullah Emre, Allan’s brother, said it’s hard seeing what’s going on Turkiye, while being in Manitoba, because you want to be able to help.

“You look at the news, you look at everything. People are suffering there, everybody’s begging for help, but basically, there’s no help there,” he said.

Allan said they are working to bring awareness to the situation, and have started a fundraiser through GoFundMe.

“I think this might be the most safest, easiest and quickest way to help them out,” he said.

“The transportation right now is a huge problem. The airports are affected, the bridges are affected, the hospitals are affected, so it’s difficult.”

The death toll from the earthquake has passed 5,300 and is expected to rise.

- With files from CTV's Renee Rodgers.