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Bay Area residents await word on loved ones affected by earthquake in Turkey
The Bay Area is home to thousands of people from Turkey and of Turkish descent. KTVU's Amber Lee spoke with two men who are anxiously awaiting for news on their loved ones and people who are missing after the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria.
NEWARK, Calif. - The Bay Area is home to thousands of people from Turkey and of Turkish descent.
On Monday, two men spoke about waiting anxiously for news about their loved ones.
They are grieving the loss of relatives who've lost their lives in a massive earthquake over the weekend and hoping that ones who are missing will be found safe.
"It is downtown Adiyaman," said Hazi Musa Dogan of Santa Clara as he shared videos his friend took of the destruction in his hometown of in Turkey.
He said his sister-in-law lost two family members and that many relatives are missing.
Dogan said his cousin and others are trapped underneath the rubble of collapsed buildings.
"I just cried. I cannot cry right now because we already cried a lot," said Dogan.
There is a sense of desperation he said as people are standing by piles of rubble helplessly waiting for rescue crews to come and dig out relatives.
"We're hearing sounds under the rubble, but we cannot do anything we're trying to with our hands to pull rocks and everything, but they cannot," said Dogan.
Some people found shelter wherever they can.
"Some sisters are living in a car right now and they say no electricity, no water, no food. It's very cold," said Dogan.
From his home in Newark, Mehmet Eker, a hardware security engineer called his sister in Turkey.
He said her husband is rushing to a city called Malatya to help family there, but that he's being hindered by road closures.
Eker said he's been up all night calling various relatives and that he learned that two family members have died in the quake and others are still missing.
"That's the worst part. The first 24 hours has passed which has been very critical since the infrastructure's been damaged," Eker said.
He said that buildings collapsing have driven many family members to leave major cities and go to villages where there are no high rises to try to stay safe.
He shared a video he said his cousin took Monday of the damage in a town called Hassa. His family described the terror of an earthquake that shook for a minute and a half.
"It's like a bulldozer running in the house. The whole building was going left and right and things started falling apart as if they were going to die," said Eker.
He's asking the people of the Bay Area to "keep them in their prayers and that's the best."
Eker and Dogan said they're concerned that with the frigid temperatures, people trapped will not be able to survive for long.
They're encouraging people to donate to Embrace Relief.
Amber Lee is a reporter with KTVU. Email Amber at Amber.Lee@Fox.com or text/leave message at 510-599-3922. Follow her on Facebook @AmberKTVU, Instagram @AmberKTVU or Twitter @AmberKTVU