"Like a ghost town" - East Yorkshire businesses owner on Turkey earthquake
6 months on from the Turkey-Syria earthquake, Ali Tekce tells us of the continued impact on Turkey.
Ali Tekce owns the Chamas, Mirage and Anatolia restaurants in Beverley, where he helped getting supplies sent to Turkey in the aftermath of the Turkey-Syria earthquake in February.
A 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck on 6 February, followed by a series of shocks - one measuring 7.5 magnitude - just hours later. As a result, over 55,000 people died and 17 million people have been affected.
Six months on, the impact of the earthquake in Turkey still remains. Describing a recent visit to the country, Ali Tekce said: "It's like a ghost town. The majority of buildings have collapsed or if they haven't collapsed they're not liveable anymore. It's going to take a long time to rebuild but somehow people find a way to live.
"It was all over the news, the first, second week, and then it slowed down, but behind the scenes things haven't gone anyway and people do need help now."
The British Red Cross say that shelter, food, water and better hygiene are still desperately needed, with many families likely having to live in temporary containers for the next two years. The psychological trauma of the earthquake will also continue to affect people there.
Ali said: "The psychology of kids is badly damaged, they've seen their parents, grandparents or somebody in the family gone. These kids are going to grow up with this tragedy.
"The city is trying to rebuild but it's not going to be an overnight job, it's going to take months if not years before we get back to normal."
He said that such a devastating natural disaster has changed his outlook on life.
He said: "There are multi-millionaires who had everything, houses, cars, businesses - you name it - and they got up one day and they didn't have anything and their family's all gone, so really, you should appreciate every moment that you have and make the most of it."
The British Red Cross alone have given basic provisions including food, clothing and medicine to over 6.5 million people since the earthquake as part of a global effort to support Turkey and Syria.
Ali said: "We genuinely appreciate everybody's help and as a Turkish national I'd like to say thank you to everyone who's been involved and has been helping where they could."