KINGSTON, R.I. – Feb. 15, 2023 – The devastating earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on Feb. 6 has affected many University of Rhode Island students, faculty and staff—those from the impacted countries and region, and those helping colleagues and friends deal with a difficult time.

To show solidarity for the tens of thousands killed and millions impacted by the disaster, the University community will come together Wednesday, Feb. 15, at 5 p.m. for a candlelight community gathering in front of the Multicultural Student Services Center, 74 Lower College Road, on the Kingston Campus. 

“I was immediately heartbroken when I found out about the earthquake,” said Julia Al-Amir, president of the Middle Eastern Student Association. “Syrians have gone through enough due to the civil war and still do. My heart goes out to the victims in Turkey as well. Everyone deserves to be safe, happy and healthy in their country. I encourage everyone to educate themselves on what is going on and to help in any way they can.

“I wanted to create awareness and recognition for the innocent families who are suffering overseas,” she added about this evening’s vigil.

Al-Amir, a senior from Pawtucket majoring in Arabic and human development and family science, organized the event with the help of numerous University groups, including the Multicultural Student Services Center, Hillel, Muslim Student Association, International Center, Chaplains Association, and the Good Five Cent Cigar.

“The effects of the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria are profound,” said URI President Marc Parlange. “As a global institution, we have faculty, staff, and students who have family and friends in the area and it is important that we, as a community, support those who have been impacted most. The destruction and loss of life are unimaginable, and my deepest condolences go to everyone affected by this tragedy.”

The death toll from the Feb. 6 earthquake has climbed to more than 41,000, with more than 35,000 victims in Turkey and over 5,000 in Syria. Tens of thousands are still missing and thousands of buildings have collapsed from the 7.8 magnitude quake and scores of aftershocks.

Al-Amir and fellow Syrian student Gada Alam say their family members who are still in Syria felt the earthquake but are thankfully unharmed. Professors Rabia Hos and Koray Ozpolat, both from Turkey, have family and friends closer to the epicenter of the disaster.

While his family is fine, Ozpolat says the last week has been difficult, helped though by the support of colleagues and students. But he says, “I want, especially our students to know that their fellow Turkish and Syrian students, professors and staff are not okay. We have difficulty concentrating on work. We are going through a collective trauma. If you know someone from Syria or Turkey, ask how they’re coping.”

Hos, an associate professor in education at URI, was a faculty member at Gaziantep University, in Gaziantep, Turkey, the epicenter of last week’s quake, and has spent the week checking on colleagues and former students.

“A lot of friends and colleagues have been affected,” said Hos, who grew up in Western Turkey. “The minute I heard that it was the epicenter, it was devastating. I tried to hear from everyone. I was frantically writing, trying to communicate.”

Despite problems with communications, Hos was able to contact most of them, but some were killed in the disaster. “I lost a colleague and his whole family,” she said. “There is a Ph.D. student, Mehmet Seckin, at the College of Engineering who has lost cousins, uncles.”

Hos, who will speak at tonight’s gathering, says she has received tremendous support from her colleagues, who have also pitched in fundraising and other efforts to aid Turkey.

In Turkey, she says relief efforts have been very slow because of the winter conditions. Survivors lack food, clean drinking water, toilets and other essentials. While teaching in Gaziantep, Hos helped create community outreach efforts in the area. With the earthquake, she has communicated with former students in Turkey to organize aid efforts. Some have lost their homes, she says, but they still want to help.

“With this group we brought together, we’ve sent monetary funding and the volunteers in Turkey actually reached out to areas the organizations couldn’t yet reach,” she said. “They’ve cooked food for over 2,000 people. We’ve also bought wood burning heaters. Mehmet Seckin, who lost members of his family, have also been working tirelessly despite his grief to support the relief efforts with our collaborative volunteers.” 

“During this difficult time, you are devastated about who you lost but you need to focus on who survived,” she added. “You have to get yourself up and stand strong to make sure you help others. That’s essentially what I’ve been trying to do.”

Ozpolat, a professor of supply chain management, says he’s been happy to see that the world “is rushing to help” Turkey in these difficult times. Turkey, which has generously hosted more than 5 million refugees from such countries as Syria and Afghanistan, is now on the receiving end, being supported by search and rescue teams from more than 50 countries.

His home city of Malatya, Turkey, was hit hard by the earthquake and aftershocks. A few thousand buildings collapsed and many more were damaged and are unsafe, he says.

His family is safe, but his 78-year-old aunt had to flee her apartment in Malatya in her pajamas after the quake hit at 4 a.m. on Feb. 6. She spent three days living in a barn with 40 other people, lacking food, water and heat. The aftershocks did not allow any survivor to go back to their houses, many of which already sustained structural damage, if not already collapsed. When his aunt eventually made it to Istanbul seeking refuge with relatives five days after the earthquake, she only had those pajamas on, leaving everything else behind.

Ozpolat, whose research includes humanitarian logistics and disaster relief, says he has been trying to persuade fellow Turkish Americans and others to make financial contributions, instead of sending goods like food, blankets and clothing. Ozpolat has worked for the United Nations in Jordan as a logistics systems analyst. In collaboration with URI engineering professor Resit Sendag, he also consulted for USAID to develop a donations calculator to educate the public about smart compassion – making financial contributions to international disasters rather than donating unsolicited goods.

The logistical costs for donated items are extremely high, the needs of disaster relief change over time, and about 70% of donated items end up being incinerated to open space for needed supplies, he says. Also, in Turkey, the earthquake affected the southeast of the country, and the domestic industry can still answer the need for most goods.

“Humanitarian logisticians call these unsolicited material donations the second disaster,” he said. “Those donations are done in good faith, with a good heart. But it’s best to make financial contributions to a charity you trust when donating to an international disaster.”

Al-Amir, whose family emigrated from Syria to Canada and Germany in 2014, still has family in Damascus, Al-Zabadani and Latakia. Alam, whose family first immigrated to the U.S. in 2011, has a sister, grandmother and cousins in Damascus, the Syrian capital, on the outer edges of the quake. But her cousin Walaa Alam is closer to the epicenter in Aleppo. After the quake, Gada reached her cousin, who works for the Norwegian Refugee Council, an independent humanitarian aid group in Syria. Her cousin told her about the collapsed buildings and the loss of life.

“It’s bad. People are starting to move on from the war and now this happens,” said Alam, a junior in pharmaceutical studies from Lincoln. “On TV and on social media, I see people, I see kids, I see families. Because I’m here and I can’t help them over there, I want to do something to get help to them.”

Alam helped organize today’s gathering and, along with Al-Amir, encourages community members to donate to established, trusted charities, such as the Norwegian Refugee Council, UNICEF, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and GlobalGiving.

For more information, email Julia Al-Amir at juliaalamir@uri.edu.