Aylesbury community raises thousands to send supplies to Turkey and Syria after devastating earthquake

Members of the Aylesbury community have come together to raise thousands for people in Turkey and Syria.

An earthquake which registered as 7.8 on the seismic magnitude scales hit Turkey and neighbouring Syria causing devastation in large swathes of both countries.

Since the earthquake hit the countries on 6 February, tens of thousands of people have been confirmed as dead while rescue efforts are ongoing as people are still being discovered under heaps of rubble.

Upon seeing the devastating news footage and reading the numbing casualty, figures which have passed 46,000 at the time of writing, executive members of the Aylesbury Mosque committee decided they must do something.

Since then a large scale volunteer scheme has been launched to get supplies to those in need.

Latest figures from Aylesbury Mosque show that 15,000 tonnes of goods have been supplied to Turkish depots, while overall £25,000 has been donated to the religious group’s fundraising campaign.

The group is still accepting donations which can be provided on a JustGiving page here, or to the mosque’s bank account: 30-90-38, 00995110, with the reference: earthquake.

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Over the weekend dozens of volunteers braved the cold to box up food, warm clothing and other requested supplies before they were sent off to Turkey.

People came from as far afield as High Wycombe and Luton to help out.

Members of Aylesbury Mosque remain in contact with people in Turkey and are awaiting further instructions on how UK residents can best help people struggling to re-start their after a life-changing event. As depots are full of donations currently.

Deputy-chair of Aylesbury Mosque, Waheed Raja, explained to The Bucks Herald why he believed so many people got involved, saying: “It was 45 seconds of devastation that has ruined the lives of many thousands.

"People have lost their parents, and it was just that impact of something could happen that suddenly. You could be on top of the world one minute and then before you know it, you’ve lost everything.

"I think that touched people’s hearts.”

As well as grassroots support Aylesbury mosque has also been assisted by local businesses that sent boxes to the place of worship free of charge.

The businesses that helped have been listed on the mosque Facebook page.