ALLENTOWN, Pa. - As the death toll rises after earthquakes rocked southern Turkey and northern Syria, the impact is being felt around the world — especially in the Lehigh Valley, where there is a large Turkish and Syrian population.
"I turned on the TV this morning and decided I can't have music playing in the restaurant today," Seyda Aci said Tuesday at her family's Aci Halal Meat Emporium and Turkish Restaurant on North Second Street in Allentown.
"I turned off my social media also. I'm not in that kind of mood. What's happening is too heavy on my heart."
- The devastating earthquakes hit home for the Turkish and Syrian communities of the Lehigh Valley
- Religious leaders are hosting prayer services at mosques and churches
- St. George Antiochan Orthodox Church in Allentown will hold a prayer service and relief effort meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday
The deadly quake hits home for Aci, who lives part-time in Istanbul, about a 90-minute plane ride from where the 7-8-magnitude earthquake hit near the Turkey-Syrian border early Monday.
The death toll climbed past 7,700 on Tuesday.
"A lot of my friends are from southeast Turkey," Aci said. "I just found out today that a friend of mine lost his uncle and six of their family members, but they were able to save his 90-year-old grandmother from under rubble.
"I messaged another friend's mom yesterday. She lives in Gaziantep, one of the areas that was largely affected, and she told me that they walked out of their house and it just collapsed. Everything that they have is gone now. My friends are OK, luckily, but everyone I know is searching for cousins, for family members. And it's the dead of winter there. It's snowing right now."
Aftershocks felt for miles
Aziz Wehbey, who belongs to the Catasauqua-based American Amarian Syrian Charity Society, reached out to his cousins who reside in the Christian Valley region of Syria, hundreds of miles from the Syrian-Turkey border.
"They thought they would not get affected by the earthquake, but they felt the vibrations. Everyone was scared. This is something unusual to Syria and the Syrian people," he said.
"Their homes were shaking several moments. They did not know what to do. Everything was dancing in house — the chandeliers, the lights, the kitchen equipment, the fridge."
Rallying together to help victims
In 1999, after an earthquake struck Turkey resulting in close to 19,000 deaths, Aci and her family collected donations for victims.
Now they are in the midst of planning something similar.
"At the time the restaurant was a gas station that my father owned and we collected about 10 truckloads of stuff that was sent to the Islamic center in New Jersey," Aci said. "Unfortunately we don't have too much room to store stuff, but we just found out that the Turkish general consulate in New York is collecting donations."
"The people are in need of everything — diapers, sanitary napkins, clean clothes and underwear, shoes, and socks."Seyda Aci, Aci Halal Meat Emporium and Turkish Restaurant
With the inclement weather and freezing temperatures, warm attire and essentials are needed in both countries.
"The people are in need of everything — diapers, sanitary napkins, clean clothes and underwear, shoes, and socks," she said.
Wehbey and other members of the Syrian-American community will meet at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Allentown's St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church, 1011 Catasauqua Ave., to discuss ways to help the war-torn country in dire need of medication and food supplies.
The night will begin with a prayer for the victims followed by a meeting in the church hall to discuss the church's relief program, which is expected to last two weeks.
Relief efforts to last months
Daniel Abdullah Hernandez, director of religious affairs of the Muslim Association of Lehigh Valley (MALV), will lead a mid-day service for the victims of the earthquake at 12:15 p.m. Wednesday at the center at 1988 Schadt Ave. in Whitehall.
"Along with collecting monetary donations, we are working with an organization called Servant's Promise to collect items such as pillows and blankets, because it's still winter there," he said.
Relief efforts, he said, will continue for months.
"I have been in communication with some community members who are from Turkey and Syria to check on their well-being," he said. "I had a friend whose niece was under the rubble and her children.
"The reality is that the numbers are skyrocketing and they are going to increase due to the magnitude. It's hopeful to see they are finding people alive, but this is a situation where they will need help for a long time."
