Photo/Illutration Staff of Peace Winds Japan, a nonprofit organization, pack relief supplies in Turkey on Feb. 12. (Provided by Peace Winds Japan)

Ensici Murat, a Turkish man who lives in Fukuoka Prefecture, has been providing support and aid to earthquake victims around Japan for more than a decade.

Now, despite still being in shock, he is seeking supplies to send to his quake-devastated home country.

“Since Japan is a disaster-prone country, it knows of many ways to support (Turkey),” Murat, 46, said.

The Japanese government has dispatched rescue workers and aid to quake-hit areas in Turkey. Various charities and local organizations in Japan have joined the efforts.

Like other Turkish expats in Japan, Murat has been worried since the massive earthquakes struck Turkey and neighboring Syria on Feb. 6.

Murat, who runs a business that imports and sells traditional Turkish textiles, spent a few restless days not knowing what had happened to his friends and relatives.

When he finally got in touch with them, “all of them said very little,” he said. “It may take more than five years to repair the quake damage.”

He said he personally knew at least eight people, including two children, who have been confirmed dead in the disaster.

Murat himself survived the major earthquake that struck Turkey in 1999.

Eight years after he came to Japan, the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake shattered the Tohoku region.

Since then, Murat has offered support to quake victims through donations and volunteer activities in disaster-hit areas, including Kumamoto Prefecture after the series of earthquakes in 2016.

Murat said he is still stunned by the latest quake. But within a week or so of the event, he started using his connections to send food to people in Turkey and order gas stoves for them.

He is also asking for donations through a Japan-Turkey friendship group that he chairs.

“I want to continue my effort to save as many lives as possible,” the man said.

Tens of thousands of people have died in the Turkey-Syria quake disaster.

The wide disaster zone is home to many Kurds, who are known as the world’s largest stateless population.

About 2,000 Kurds, or about 80 percent of the Kurdish population in Japan, live in and around Kawaguchi and Warabi cities in Saitama Prefecture.

As of Feb. 12, more than 10 people had told the Japan Kurdish Cultural Association in Kawaguchi that they lost relatives in the quakes.

A Kurdish man in his 40s in Kawaguchi said 10 people, including his mother and his brother’s family, have been directly affected by the disaster.

He said one cousin and five related children have died.

Their houses were destroyed, and the survivors have been sleeping in tents outside.

He said he has been in touch with them by phone, but he can talk with them for only three to four minutes every two days or so because of the poor signal quality.

“I’ve been thinking about my family all the time,” he said. “They lost their homes and there is no electricity. They don’t know how they will live from now.”

The Japan Kurdish Cultural Association has asked for donations at restaurants owned by Kurdish people. It has also sought aid from business partners.

“Relief supplies have arrived at large-scale evacuation facilities (in Turkey), but not at homes where many residents have sought shelter,” said a representative of nonprofit organization Peace Winds Japan. “At some homes, 15 people are sleeping in one room.”

The NPO has supplied water, food, blankets, heating appliances and daily supplies to such homes.

(This article was compiled from reports by Tetsuhiro Toyoshima, Ko Sendo and Ryujiro Komatsu.)

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