The Central Coast rallies to help Turkey, Syria earthquake victims

MONTEREY, Calif. (KION-TV): The deadly 7.8 magnitude earthquake has killed over 12,000 people in southeast Turkey and Syria, and has left people homeless in the freezing cold.

Yavuz Atila, who lives in Carmel, still remembers the phone call he got about the earthquake that affected his wife's family.

"It was Sunday night here when we received the call from Malatya about the earthquake," said Atila. "It happened at 4:17 a.m., and we were just shocked and calling our friends and family right away."

Atila's 98-year-old mother-in-law has been affected by the earthquake and had to be transported to a hospital, and is living there at the moment.

Atila's brother-in-law is also affected by the quake and is living in a car with his wife and his two kids, something that Atila feels very devastated about.

"It's a very stressful situation," said Atila. "You want to help but the roads are closed, weather is not cooperating and it's very frustrating."

Right now, Atila is focused now more than ever to help his family and the rest of his people back home by sending relief to Turkey.

"Being the former president of the California Turkish American Association, there are other non-profit organizations, like Turkish Americans, and Cal Turks," said Atila. "So, we all are trying to save funds and connect with the organizations in Turkey."

Atila's organization, Cal Turks, has all the information on the webpage if people want to donate to Turkey and Syria.