Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading

Turkish restaurant owners scramble to feed earthquake survivors

Tents stand at an internal displacement camp at the Yeni Hatay Stadyumu in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Hatay, Turkey, February 10, 2023. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

Restaurant owners from across Turkey travelled to Hatay, one of the regions worst-hit by Monday's devastating earthquake, to dish up kebabs, rice and other hot meals on Friday to disaster survivors.

Omer Faruk, who runs a restaurant in Konya in central Turkey, travelled to a tent city housing those who had lost their homes. Some 550 white tents have been erected next to Hatay Stadium - usually used for soccer - in the south of the country.

"We are providing food to our citizens who are suffering due to the earthquake. We are all restaurateurs. We are here to help quake victims," said Faruk.

Long lines of residents, including many children, queued up to receive the meals. Volunteer Sardar Kayak said they were providing food for 1,000 people a day at the stadium, as well as another thousand in nearby villages.

With some 6,500 buildings collapsed in Turkey and countless more damaged, hundreds of thousands of people lack safe housing.

Banks of tents have been erected in stadiums and shattered city centres, and Mediterranean and Aegean summer beach resorts outside the quake zone have opened up hotel rooms for evacuees.

(Reporting by Deniz Uyar, Antony Paone and Edward Baran; Writing by Rosalba O'Brien; Editing by Leslie Adler)

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.