Santa Clara University’s Middle Eastern & North African (MENA) association and the Office for Diversity organized a candlelight vigil for earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria at the campus’s main fountain on a breezy and cold Monday night.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced that more than 35,000 people have died in Turkey as a result of last week’s earthquakes, making it the deadliest such disaster since the country’s founding 100 years ago. Confirmed deaths passed the 33,000 recorded from the massive Erzincan earthquake in 1939. Erdogan said 105,505 people were injured as a result of the Feb. 6 quake centered around Kahramanmaras and its aftershocks.
Almost 3,700 deaths have been confirmed in neighboring Syria, taking the combined toll in both countries to over 39,000.
The death toll is almost certain to rise, and many of the tens of thousands of survivors left homeless are struggling to find shelter from the bitter cold.
Bay Area-based nonprofits among those helping victims are listed here:
Ray Plaza, right, from the Office for Diversity and Inclusion, helps light a candle for junior Karina Tsou, far left, during a candlelight vigil for earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria; Monday, Feb. 13, 2023, at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, Calif. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) Students listen to a speaker during a candlelight vigil for earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, Calif., on Monday, Feb. 13, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) Josephine Hernandez, far right, a junior, holds a candle during the vigil. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) Marta Balikcioglu, a freshman at Santa Clara University, speaks about the earthquake in Turkey and Syria at a candlelight vigil at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, Calif., on Monday, Feb. 13, 2023. Balikcioglu’s aunt and cousin as well as friends died in the earthquake. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) Santa Clara University students participate in the vigil. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) Zumrut Ertem, a junior, talks with fellow students after a candlelight vigil for earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, Calif., on Monday, Feb. 13, 2023. Ertem helped organize the event. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
