{"id":46847,"date":"2023-02-10T13:30:03","date_gmt":"2023-02-10T13:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shefnews.co.uk\/?p=46847"},"modified":"2023-02-10T13:30:03","modified_gmt":"2023-02-10T13:30:03","slug":"doncaster-teenager-launches-desperate-plea-for-his-missing-family-after-turkey-earthquake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/02\/10\/doncaster-teenager-launches-desperate-plea-for-his-missing-family-after-turkey-earthquake\/","title":{"rendered":"Doncaster teenager launches desperate plea for his missing family after Turkey earthquake"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>A distraught teenager has launched a desperate plea to help find his family who are<br>feared trapped in the rubble at the epicentre of the Turkey and Syria earthquake.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Soner Ekiztas, 17, from Lewyns Drive in Doncaster has raised over \u00a34,000 for his dad and<br>cousin who have spent days searching for their family and offering aid to communities in<br>Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Soner\u2019s auntie, uncle and cousin were on the fourth floor of a 10-storey building when the<br>7.8 magnitude earthquake hit only miles away from their home in Kahramanmara\u015f at the<br>very early hours of Monday morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>\u201cMy cousin that is stuck under the rubble right now, one of his friends has been keeping in<br>contact with us and given us updates\u201d, said Soner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>\u201cThey told us a couple of hours ago that someone from the fifth floor has been freed and<br>there are still voices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>\u201cWhen we hear news like this is just brings so much relief, but we are just praying and<br>hoping for the best.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Soner\u2019s 23-year-old cousin, Owkes Ekiztas, joined his dad in the search for their family, to<br>find his mum, dad and younger brother aged 19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Soner said: \u201cMy dad is really just hoping for the best, but before he left for Turkey he<br>started crying and I\u2019ve never really seen my dad cry so that really affected me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>\u201cI\u2019m equally worried for my cousin because if they are dead and he is the one to find their<br>body then it would be something that would ruin him forever, knowing that he is the only<br>one left in his family of four\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The death toll of the quake has surpassed 21,500 making it more deadly than the Marmara<br>earthquake 24 years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>There has been strong criticism of the initial response from the Turkish government. Soner<br>said: \u201cThe government really isn\u2019t doing anything about it. It\u2019s the communities and regular<br>people coming together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>\u201cThere\u2019s been so little support from the Turkish government. It\u2019s like they\u2019ve failed us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shefnews.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2023\/02\/Soner-and-Dad-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-46851\" \/><figcaption>Soner pictured with his dad on New Years Eve 2022<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Soner\u2019s dad and cousin flew to Turkey straight after they heard about the news of the<br>earthquake in to offer aid and support to their Turkish community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMy dad is borrowing someone\u2019s car to buy food and give out as much food as he can<br>because of the funds that I\u2019ve raised as well as his own money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>\u201cThere isn\u2019t enough people being helped. They are sleeping out in the cold. They don\u2019t have<br>water and they don\u2019t have electricity. So, even the people that have survived can\u2019t contact<br>their family to see if they are okay and tell them that they are alive\u201d, said Soner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>The funds raised through Soner\u2019s GoFundMe page will go directly towards search parties,<br>generators and machinery to help those under the rubble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-id=\"46854\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shefnews.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2023\/02\/Turkey-earthquake-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-46854\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><br>He said, \u201cany donations help, no matter how little or big\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Ekin Han, 17, who also has family from Turkey and grew up with Soner in the UK donated<br>\u00a3100 towards his emergency fundraiser.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>He said it\u2019s horrible feeling helpless: \u201cIt\u2019s heart breaking to see the deaths. It\u2019s affected me<br>as well; my village as well has not got communication with everyone there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>\u201cWe want to help out as much as we can since we can\u2019t go and help out. The most we can<br>do is send money to people who can go and help out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>You can donate to Soner\u2019s appeal at: <a href=\"https:\/\/gofund.me\/d3d2c819\">https:\/\/gofund.me\/d3d2c819<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A distraught teenager has launched a desperate plea to help find his family who arefeared trapped in the rubble at the epicentre of the Turkey and Syria earthquake. Soner Ekiztas, 17, from Lewyns Drive in Doncaster has raised over \u00a34,000 for his dad andcousin who have spent days searching for their family and offering aid [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":46837,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21,16,82],"tags":[58,549,44],"class_list":["post-46847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-top-stories","category-top-story","tag-doncaster","tag-family","tag-fundraising"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Doncaster teenager launches desperate plea for his missing family after Turkey earthquake - ShefNews<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/02\/10\/doncaster-teenager-launches-desperate-plea-for-his-missing-family-after-turkey-earthquake\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Doncaster teenager launches desperate plea for his missing family after Turkey earthquake - ShefNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A distraught teenager has launched a desperate plea to help find his family who arefeared trapped in the rubble at the epicentre of the Turkey and Syria earthquake. Soner Ekiztas, 17, from Lewyns Drive in Doncaster has raised over \u00a34,000 for his dad andcousin who have spent days searching for their family and offering aid [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/02\/10\/doncaster-teenager-launches-desperate-plea-for-his-missing-family-after-turkey-earthquake\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ShefNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-02-10T13:30:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Callum McIntyre\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@JournoCallum\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Callum McIntyre\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/02\/10\/doncaster-teenager-launches-desperate-plea-for-his-missing-family-after-turkey-earthquake\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/02\/10\/doncaster-teenager-launches-desperate-plea-for-his-missing-family-after-turkey-earthquake\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Callum McIntyre\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/0f4738f75ee665f17776b373a20f7fca\"},\"headline\":\"Doncaster teenager launches desperate plea for his missing family after Turkey earthquake\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-10T13:30:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/02\/10\/doncaster-teenager-launches-desperate-plea-for-his-missing-family-after-turkey-earthquake\/\"},\"wordCount\":585,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/02\/10\/doncaster-teenager-launches-desperate-plea-for-his-missing-family-after-turkey-earthquake\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"keywords\":[\"doncaster\",\"family\",\"fundraising\"],\"articleSection\":[\"News\",\"Top stories\",\"Top Story - 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