TAMER Hassan made a desperate appeal for help in the wake of the devastating earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria, as the death toll surpasses 12,000.
The British-Turkish actor, known for his starring role in The Football Factory, lost family in the quake and is now doing everything he can to help rescue teams and survivors.
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The major 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey and northern Syria early on Monday.
It was followed by another 7.5 earthquake and violent aftershocks and tremors that continued to devastate the region and hinder rescue teams.
It is the biggest quake to hit the region in 84 years and is believed to have shifted Turkey by 10ft – becoming one of the deadliest earthquakes of this century.
“I literally have no words for this. We’re all devastated as I explained before we have family that are lost, not found,” Hassan told Sky News.
Currently in Cyprus, he is raising money for the relief effort and working to send over supplies before he joins rescuers in Turkey in the coming days.
“The biggest distress for me is that there’s some areas that have been completely flattened with no help,” he explained. “No one is there to help them”.
The World Health Organisation predicts 23 million people are affected by the disaster, with the death toll projected to reach 20,000 as more bodies are found.
Hassan is also extremely fearful of the unfolding humanitarian disaster as many survivors are left without help, food, or anywhere to live.
“People are freezing, people are starving,” he said.
Hassan urged people to help. “They need the world to come together to help them.”
The film star also shared his fury at the Turkish government, who he believes aren’t doing enough.
“They need to step up,” he said. “People are left on their own to survive… they need hard, fast help.”
His criticism of Turkish President Erdogan’s government comes as anger is growing fast across affected areas over the slow speed of rescue efforts.
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Families are reportedly being forced to dig for their relatives without help across some of the most badly-hit areas.
Other factors are working to hamper rescue teams, including a lack of heavy machinery and shattered infrastructure preventing access to areas.
Twenty-five-year-old Yousseff has been waiting two days for news of his father, mother, brother, sister and son – all trapped among the ruins of his apartment building in Aleppo, Syria.
He has been listening to their frantic voices but emergency workers have not yet been able to reach them.
“You can see here – they’re very slow at work and they don’t have enough equipment,” he told Reuters.
Search and rescue operations continue through the night as volunteers scramble over the ruins of flattened buildings to find survivors – listening out for voices of those trapped.
Harrowing images show body bags piling up in cities across the stricken area, such as in Antakya, Turkey, where the dead were placed on the pavements as relatives raced to find their loved ones.
Erdogan has declared a three-month state of emergency in the quake’s epicentre, Gaziantep, and nine other cities.
Recent reports emerge of rescue teams being trapped within the rubble in the badly-struck city of Hatay, Turkey.
Other footage from the disaster shows heart-breaking scenes, including a father hanging onto his dead daughter’s hand, whose body remains under the wreckage of their home.
In a moment of hope, a new born baby was pulled from the rubble with her umbilical cord still attached. The mother, however, is believed to have died after giving birth while trapped for more than 24 hours.
The misery continues as news emerges that body bags are in short supply and aid workers are struggling to cope with the management of the bodies.
Syria, an already war-shattered country, faces compounding crises as aid agencies are exhaustingly stretched to deliver aid and help to millions across the nation embroiled in a civil war.
Generous Sun readers have already pledged over £300K to our ongoing Earthquake Appeal that will be donated to the British Red Cross.
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