Atlanta Center Leads Earthquake Relief Efforts

By Charles Edwards

Atlanta, GA – An Atlanta-based Turkish-American organization is part of a local relief effort for eastern Turkey. A 7.2 earthquake hit the region Sunday killing hundreds and wounding more.

The Istanbul Center says there's a "Turkey Earthquake Fund" account a Wells Fargo. The money will be sent to a Governor in the eastern Turkey region, who will lead relief efforts. The Center's executive director, Tarik Celik, says donating money is the best way to help right now.

"I'm not saying that other needs won't be helpful but this will be the easiest way of giving them the money and helping them to buy their stuff," said Celik.

Celik admits eastern Turkey needs various goods and services. But delivering those items to region would be difficult. After the earthquake, Celik says many Turks rushed to their cars to flee the stricken area. That caused a traffic jam that has clogged roads. Plus, the quake damaged many buildings and ruined others altogether.

"This is not the first time. But in terms of the magnitude I believe this is maybe one of the biggest earthquakes they've had," said Celik.

The earthquake has hit home for many Turkish-Americans. About 6,000 of them live in metro Atlanta. In total, about 10,000 Turkish-Americans live in Georgia.