LI immigrants from Turkey, Syria search for news after earthquake

Immigrants from Turkey and Syria on Long Island woke up to the devastating news on Monday that a powerful earthquake had flattened buildings and killed people by the thousands in their homelands.

From mosques in eastern Suffolk County to a doctor’s office in Nassau County, they hunted desperately for news of friends and relatives back home — hoping for the best and bracing for the worst as the death toll steadily climbed.

“It’s a sad, sad day,” said Sadri Altinok, president of the Turkish Cultural Center Long Island based in Ronkonkoma. “It looks like the death toll is going to rise quickly.”

Officials put it at more than 3,000 by Monday afternoon, but it was expected to grow substantially as rescue workers unearthed more bodies from collapsed concrete buildings.

Phone lines were jammed, Altinok said, as Turkish immigrants here tried to reach loved ones or friends back home. They attempted to get through by other means, too, such as social media.

Altinok noted that the initial earthquake was followed by another nearly as strong, with dozens of powerful aftershocks. Scientists put the initial earthquake at 7.8-magnitude in southern Turkey, followed by another of 7.5-magnitude earthquake in the same fault zone.

Altinok estimated the Turkish population on Long Island at 12,000 to 15,000.

At the Osmaniye Mosque in Moriches, Selman Faruk Ozat, the imam who heads it, was busy Monday tending to his flock as they tried to get word from back home.

“We are just sad about it,” he said. “The people left their homes at nighttime without taking any blankets or any jackets. It’s also very cold right now. People are outside in the cold weather.”

He said the mosque hopes to collect food, clothing, tents and blankets — “anything that keeps them warm” — to send to the disaster zone, though it will take some time.

The biggest thing they can do meanwhile, he said, is pray that more victims of the earthquakes will be rescued.

“We cannot do more than that, unfortunately,” he said.

At his office in Greenvale, Dr. Onat Akin, a pathologist from Turkey, was stricken with grief over the devastation, but clinging to one hopeful story of some friends of his wife.

The mother, a teacher, along with her baby and her husband, were in a building that collapsed. “The father was trying to save the baby,” Akin said.

He was successful, but suffered a spinal injury himself, Akin said. The last they heard, the family was in a hospital.

Meanwhile, other family and friends “are under the ruins,” he said.

Imam Sefa Toslu of the Suleymaniye mosque in Deer Park said members were trying to reach back home to see how they could best be of help.

But “at these times moral support is what really, really what matters,” he said.

At Freeport High School on Monday, two teachers from Turkey happened to be visiting for a robotics competition among schools from the tristate area — and one from Turkey.

They had the competition on Saturday, and by Monday were touring Freeport High School — as they absorbed news of the tragedy back home.

Umut Ciftci said his own relatives were out of danger because they live in an unaffected part of Turkey.

“They are scared, a little bit worried, but everyone is OK,” he said.

What he heard from them was that everyone in Turkey was pulling together to respond to the disaster.

When something bad happens, “We are like a family, everyone helping each other,” he said. “The government is really working hard right now,” including the military, he added.

His fellow teacher, Aykut Simay, said that if they were back in Turkey, they would probably go to the scene to help.

“Too many people died,” he said. “We are so sad about this.”

With Howard Schnapp