'Please, help my people': York's Okan Ok launches Turkey appeal

Okan Ok, who went to school in Istanbul and whose parents still live there, was appalled when he saw footage of the disaster unfolding on TV.

The death toll from the earthquake and its aftershocks in Turkey and Syria now exceeds 19,000, with tens of thousands more thought to have lost their homes and around 60,000 injured.

“They need support, they need help,” said Okan, who runs Hebden Tea in Shambles and Minster Gates.

“There are six or seven major cities that are short of everything. Food, supplies, medicines, blankets, nappies - everything that people need, they don’t have.”

A survivor is pulled from the rubble (Image: Ismail Coskun/IHA via AP)

With rescue workers still digging through the rubble, hopes still persist that some more people may be found alive.

But the tens of thousands of survivors who have been left injured or homeless – many of whom are themselves mourning lost loved ones - also desperately need help, Okan pointed out.

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Many people dare not return to their own homes, because they may not be safe and could collapse.

“Even where houses are still standing, people don’t feel they can go back, because they are frightened,” Okan said.

So they are left struggling to survive, often without water or heating, in conditions where the temperature at night can get to 15 degrees below zero.

A family get warm with a fire in front of their destroyed home in Elbistan, southern Turkey (Image: AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Okan said his overwhelming feeling on first seeing footage of the disaster was one of helplessness. “It was terrifying, the sheer scale of it,” he said. “When people feel something like that, they feel so powerless.”

But he is now launching a fundraising appal through his business Hebden Tea, which sells teas from around the world.

He has bagged up one of his bestselling lines – English Breakfast Tea – in 50g bags, which are on sale online and at his shops for £3.30 each. And every penny of that £3.30 will go to disaster relief, he said.

One of the big problems is that the earthquake has made it very difficult to get help to the areas that need it most, Okan said.

“Roads are blocked, airport runways are damaged.”

So, instead of the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal, he has chosen to support Ahbap, an independent Turkish charity that already has people working on the ground across the disaster area providing immediate emergency relief.

Every penny from the sale of his 50g breakfast tea bags will go to Ahbap, he said.

A destroyed building in Gaziantep, southeastern Turkey (Image: AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

Firefighters from across the UK have joined the International Search and Rescue Team (UK-ISAR) to begin rescuing those who became trapped since the 7.8 magnitude quake hit on Monday - as the death toll passed 19,000.

Saleh Saeed, chief executive of the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), told a press conference millions of people in Turkey and Syria are in "desperate need" of aid.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said the Government will match £5 million in funds raised to help the rescue and relief effort in the aftermath of the earthquake.

York Central MP Rachael Maskell said: "​The scenes from Turkey and Syria are heart-breaking and devastating as thousands of people have been displaced, and tragically 19,000 have lost their lives in one of the worst natural disasters ever recorded.

“I thank everyone in York for their generosity of spirit and donations."

• To support Okan’s York appeal, visit hebdentea.com or visit one of his shops – Hebden Tea in Minster Gates and Shambles, and the Hebden Tea Experience in Shambles – and buy his special 50g bags of English Breakfast Tea.
• You can also donate to Ahbap directly at ahbap.org/disasters-turkey
• To support the DEC appeal, visit dec.org.uk/appeal/turkey-syria-earthquake-appeal