ST. LOUIS — A 7.8 magnitude earthquake destroyed parts of Syria and Turkey, killing thousands of people.
Refugees from both middle eastern countries, who now live in St. Louis, are trying to help their families from halfway across the world.
Ayman Almlla said he and his family left St. Louis for the Middle East about two weeks ago to visit his wife’s family in Egypt. They had just arrived in Turkey to visit his family when the earthquake hit and destroyed his mom’s home.
“Their building fell down. They lost everything. They don't have any food or water or anything to survive,” Almlla said.
Almlla said it’s very cold and they are trying to find a new place for the family to stay before they try to come back to St. Louis.
“It was terrible. We lost everything. We have to stay in the street far from any building because everything fell down. It was like a horror movie,” Almlla said.
Almlla’s sister-in-law, Hadil Sumsmieh, said her brother and his family lost their house and their furniture business in Turkey.
“They had so much time to get this house and get this life after the war. They built a new house, new business, and now everything's gone,” Sumsmieh said.
Sumsmieh said her brother and his family had to jump from the crumbling building just to survive.
“He threw all my family from the window, like from the window of the building. Yeah, and praise God they are good, but the house is destroyed,” Sumsmieh said.
She said seeing the damage and not being able to get there to help has been so hard.
“I can't do anything. I'm just, I'm worried. I can't sleep,” Sumsmieh said.
Mawda Altayan said even before the earthquake, Syrians were going through one of the worst winters and had strong sanctions limiting everything.
“They have a very bad situation after the war, and everything is expensive for them. There is no electric, no power, no Internet. They just have maybe one hour per day, sometimes not,” Altayan said.
Altayan said her family’s home is intact but the situation around them has gotten worse.
“It was even difficult time for us because we don't know what the situation is there. But finally, after maybe a few hours, we reached them. Everything was fine. They are safe,” Altayan said.
All three families are trying to collect money to send to their loved ones in Syria and Turkey.
There are several ways you can donate if you’d like to help:
You can Venmo the Sumsmieh family directly @Hadil-Sumsmieh or @abomaher.
You can donate through Paypal to the Altayan family with her email mohialden1122@gmail.com.
Or you can donate to a general fund through the refugee assistance organization Welcome Neighbor STL at this link and put “Earthquake Relief” in the memo line.
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