Southern Turkey hit by earthquake!

FIRST General Forum
1

Praying for our Turkey teams. And hopefully when it’s safe would like to know how our fellow frc teams after doing.

27 Likes
2

There was a second, larger quake - and it’s bad.

4 Likes
3

This is very bad, prayers for everyone in the region

Let us know if there is any way we can help

9 Likes
4

Our school is gathering the following needed materials, they will be delivered to the disaster area.
• Blankets
• Bed
• Heaters
• Linens set
• Pillows
• Hygiene Set
• Canned Food
• Coat, Boots, Sleeping Bags
Materials can be delivered to all our campuses.
In order for the materials to be shipped safely, it is important that they are delivered in a waterproof bag / covering, with the lids closed and secured, and by specifying what kind of material (Example: Food material / bedding, etc.) is on it.
:pray:

5 Likes
5

Hi all. Hope everyone is fine. Nowadays Turkey is going through hard times. Starting yesterday night according to the local time at 04.17 am some earthquakes started to happen. According to AFAD (Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency of Turkey), the first earthquake happen in a 7,7 magnitude strike in southern Turkey. Since then there are other strong earthquakes (+7) strikes happening in surrounding provinces. Also with the aftershocks.

According to the last updates, there are many houses are destroyed, 1498 deaths, 8533 injured, and some people are still under the rubble

Here are some official donation links for helping the injured in the earthquakes;

We are fine for now, but for now, we are trying our best as people all around Turkey to send money or other stuff to help them.

34 Likes
6

Made a donation. Turkiye is in my thoughts!

8 Likes
7

Here are some other links that can be found for the donations.

With 200 philanthropists and 30,000 volunteers on board, AHBAP is another local voluntary network that is currently active in the affected regions.
You can donate in with a credit card in lira at:

AKUT is a voluntary, non-governmental organization involved in searching, assisting, and rescuing the victims of those affected by the earthquake. They are fully transparent about how they spend donations they receive.
They accept donations in EUR and USD at:

AFAD is Turkey’s official disaster and emergency management authority.
They accept donations in EUR and USD at:
https://afad.gov.tr/depremkampanyasi2

Oxfam is a global organization that fights inequality to end poverty and injustice. You can donate to its emergency fund at:

15 Likes
8

Looking at some FRC in that part of the world some team that may be effected:

9059 Adana, Turkey
9159 Kahramanmaras, Turkey
9174 Antakya, Turkey

It appears Mersin was outside the devastation, but a couple of teams (8220 & 8762) and the upcoming Mersin regional are there.

6 Likes
9

For now we cannot contact with them due to problems in signals and Wi-Fi.

Today First Turkey informed that Izmir and Mersin Regional’s were cancelled due to earthquake and because they announced as help points. That’s why there may be a 3rd regional in İstanbul.

Maybe @AlexBurchard can give better information for this.

Also thank you to @first for the best wishes.

9 Likes
10

Hoping we get more teams checking in soon.

11

These are difficult times for Turkey, but I hope we will recover.

2 Likes
12

I remember a few years ago when Mexico City was hit by a large earthquake and many teams in Mexico had to take the year off because of it. I wonder if this will have the same effect in Turkey?

13

We had two regionals(Mersin, İzmir) cancelled but other two (Istanbul, Bosphorus) regionals are still going to take place. There aren’t many teams in the effected areas but some might take the year off.

1 Like
14

We have heard from the Mentors of the teams in Hatay and Diyarbakir(via brief text). And other mentors had made contact with the Mentor of the team from K.Maras. As we don’t want to overburden communication lines we haven’t done a lot of talking yet, we’d prefer to leave lines clear as possible for emergency workers as it is still a very active search and rescue zone, with thousands of buildings haven fallen as of the last time I looked at the news. (Likely that means that many many thousands more are uninhabitable now).

Other than that, yes - yesterday we made the decision to cancel two events as the venues will be used for earthquake relief, and we hope to soon confirm dates and a location on a third event in İstanbul to give teams from those two events an opportunity to compete still this season. More to come when we know more.

There is a longer message in English and Turkish on the Blog: https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/frc/blog/2023-a-message-to-the-FIRST-community-in-Turkiye?utm_content=237303457&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&hss_channel=fbp-378744932190811&fbclid=IwAR2_e1pUZCnQpSJBcW6X8CjlCSxk8jzcM_oVEchKL7bDUdwxxobcZJ0_pBo

17 Likes
15

Thank you for the information. I’m hoping that all “our” students and mentors are physically safe. I appreciate @gokalparas for the many resources where we can opt to help.

Continuing to pray for Türkiye.

3 Likes
16

An Update Regarding the Earthquake

The effects of the earthquake are still going. Currently there are 35418 dead and 105505 injured.
Also, sadly, we learned about the loss of an FRC student, Ali Batuhan and his family from #9159 Shago Robotics in the earthquake.

Our hearts are heavy with the earthquake affecting many people, including the team in Maraş. We send our deep condolences to Team 9159.

Plase know that it is not late to donate. This disaster will require financial and mental perseverence for months. So, please consider donating from the sources linked above.

12 Likes
17

Thank you for updating, even if it is tragic news. My thoughts are with all of you.

1 Like