DONATIONS from generous Scots in the wake of the horrific earthquakes that have claimed the lives of thousands of people in Turkey and Syria are “beyond all expectations”, according to a student who has lost four family members.

Speaking to the Sunday National just after learning that his mother’s pregnant cousin Emine Kaya, her policeman husband Mehmet and their 8-year-old daughter Elif had been crushed under the rubble of their building, Edinburgh-based Ahmed Burak said he was grateful for the support that had been given so far.

“Scottish people have shown their love so much it is beyond all expectation,” said Burak, vice-president of the Association of Turkish Alumni and Students in Scotland (ATAS).

The association is now encouraging people to give money as their emergency appeal has been inundated with so many clothes and other items that donations are becoming hard to manage.

Burak said those who wanted to contribute could donate to the Disaster Emergency Appeal Scotland (DEC) which brings together leading charities working with locally led relief efforts. The Scottish Government has donated £500,000 to the fund and the UK Government will match the first £2 million donated by the public.

Glasgow Turkish Society said their appeal had also scored a good response but items like nappies, women’s hygiene products and medicines like Calpol are still needed.

Aytac Kaya, of Coatbridge, set off yesterday with a lorryload of goods raised by the appeal. He said it would take three days to reach the disaster area.

Some of his friends and family are included in the death toll which has surpassed the 1999 earthquake total of 17,118 and is expected to rise much further in the coming days.

Kaya pointed out that many more had been made homeless and were struggling to survive in sub-zero temperatures.

“They are in desperate need,” he said.

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Tekin Esmer (above), of Galashiels, who is grieving after his cousin Sabri and his family were killed when their home in Iskenderun collapsed, is also appealing for help and has been collecting donations at his café in Galashiels.

The 47-year-old is still trying to find out the fate of other family members. He knows his two brothers are safe but homeless.

“No words can describe how I am feeling right now,” he said. “At least 50% of my hometown has been destroyed and it will take years to repair it. It is freezing cold there and it is terrifying.”

So far he has delivered a van full of goods donated by his customers to the Turkish Consulate General in Edinburgh and aims to drive a load of donations to the stricken area once the roads are fully open.

In Glasgow, Pinar Aksu is worried sick about her gran and other family members who have been made homeless and are trying to survive in freezing temperatures in the middle of the crisis zone.

“It is horrible and I am devastated,” said Aksu who is the human rights and advocacy coordinator at Maryhill Integration.

“My gran has been sleeping in a tent, then a house in the village that did not collapse but it is freezing cold and snowing.

“If people survive the earthquake they are going to die from cold or disease as there are piles of bodies everywhere.

“Thankfully, I have not lost anyone but I know so many people in our community that have lost family members.”

Like Aksu’s family, many of the people in the worst affected area of Turkey are members of the Alevi ethnic minority. There has been widespread anger over the way the buildings collapsed, with many experts claiming they were not fit for purpose.

“I feel like this was like a massacre because they let the region die,” said Aksu. “They have been building cheap places and all the scientists are saying they warned that precautions should be taken but were ignored.

“Most of the region’s homes are gone so where are the people going to go and how are they going to rebuild? Everything is gone, they have nothing.

“The death toll is going to go up so much and we have been told that what they need now are tents and shrouds because there are so many bodies.”

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Aksu said the collective feeling of the community in Scotland was helplessness.

“Our hands are tied because there is not much we can do,” she said. “Even when I have coffee I feel ashamed because I have food and drink and they have nothing. They don’t even know how many people are under the buildings so it is going to be really bad.”

She has set up a fundraiser to send donations to the British Alevi Federation which has already co-ordinated with local people and sent blankets and tents to the most affected areas.

“This is going to take months if not years to rebuild as whole towns and cities are gone so people need to think about support for the long term,” said Aksu.

A petition set up calling for a Turkish Family Scheme Visa for people made homeless by the earthquake has reached around half of its 100,000 target.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has admitted the government’s response to last Monday’s earthquake had not been as fast as could be hoped but has hit out at critics who claim safety standards were bypassed in new buildings causing them to collapse in the two earthquakes which measured 7.8 magnitude and 7.5 magnitude.

The situation in war-ravaged Syria has also been described as “absolutely catastrophic” by the Syrian civil defence organisation the White Helmets.

The UN is pushing for aid to flow freely into the country, especially the northwest, where it estimated more than four million people already required aid before last Monday’s disaster.

Aid has arrived in areas held by Bashar al-Assad’s government but little has reached the north-west.

Aksu’s fundraiser: www.gofundme.com/f/turkey-earthquake-solidarity?qid=4cbc11d28289635fd5754c12188dd4ef

DEC fundraiser: donation.dec.org.uk/turkey-syria-earthquake-appeal

Visa petition: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/632772