'I've lost people, 80% of my town is destroyed': Turkish community in the East Midlands on quake crisis
Searches are ongoing today, after the total death toll surpassed 20,000
Stamford's Turkish community are hopeful there's still plenty of lives to be saved, following the two huge Turkey-Syria earthquakes on Monday morning (6th February).
'There's loads more of our family still missing'
Cihan Kaya runs a number of barber shops in Stamford and is from Elbistan - just a few kilometres away from the epicentre of the second 7.5 magnitude quake.
He tells us that, like many others, he's lost family and has been left heartbroken by the tragedy:
'My city, my town, my village does not exist any more. It's there but there's nothing there. There's no hospitals, no schools, loads of families still waiting to be rescued...'
'Thank you to everyone that's helping in the search, thank you to everyone for their help.'
READ MORE: All the images, as Leicestershire firefighters touch down in Turkey
He added: 'I've managed to speak to my mum. We've lost a few family members - my uncle's family, they couldn't make it out. We've got loads of other family members that are still missing. My mum's still alive luckily.'
Mr Kaya also had this message for those helping in the search efforts and for those still missing loved ones:
'Just don't lose hope. Everyone come together, everyone do their bit. It's not easy but it's going to be fine hopefully.'
'I'm sorry to everyone who lost their family members, it's just a disaster. Heart-breaking.'
Search and rescue efforts from local and international experts and volunteers are ongoing, after the Turkey-Syria earthquake death toll reached 20,000 on Thursday night (9th February)
Almost 80 firefighters from across Britain joined the UK's International Search and Rescue Team, and are currently on the ground supporting rescue attempts.