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Sunderland Minster held a multi-faith vigil to pray, as well as raise awareness and donations to help.

Muslim embers of the North East’s Turkish community, with personal connections to the disaster, prayed beside Christians for victims of the quake which has so far claimed 21,000 lives.

The event was quickly organised by Sunderland Inter Faith Forum (SIFF), led by Revd Chris Howson of the minster. There was a healthy turnout.

Members of the North East's Turkish community were at the vigil. From left: Yusuf Erdogan, Ilhami Unal, Enis Kaan Emecan and Captain Gungor Ayaz.

Organisers had no idea what sort of response there would be. However, when four Turkish men turned up they were invited to speak and share information about what was happening in the disaster zone.

One attendee was Captain Gungor Ayaz, who works in shipping at the Port of Sunderland. He and his friends Yusuf Erdogan, Ilhami Unal and Enis Kaan Emecan are raising awareness and helping with an appeal from the charity Time to Help UK. All four are volunteers with the charity.

Gungor said: “We have a Turkish community here and we’re trying to raise awareness all round Sunderland, South Tyneside and Newcastle about the Turkish earthquake disaster. We are volunteers with charities trying to help.

“We have a lot of friends who are from the region. One of our friends who lives in Stockton has 17 of his relatives who were under the rubble. Some of them are still under the rubble.

At the vigil were, from left: Ilhami Unal, Yusuf Erdogan, Enis Kaan Emecan and Captain Gungor Ayaz, local Turkish residents, with Steve Newman of Sunderland Inter Faith Forum.

“I also have a friend who lives there. Luckily they are alive. Most of their relatives have died.

“We woke up on Monday morning and heard about a 7.8 magnitude earthquake and more then 13.5 million people are affected. It’s a huge area. According to the Turkish Government, more than 13,000 buildings have collapsed. But it’s very difficult to calculate the figures.

“We came here to pray together and we shared our thoughts with Chris and he promised to help. Our charity is accepting donations online.

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“Our community is thinking what it can do. We live here but our friends and relatives, our people, are suffering right now.

Gungor believes that many more stories emerging from the earthquake are yet to be told.

You can donate at www.timetohelp.org.uk.

Turkish worker at Port of Sunderland tells of aid efforts as Sunderland Minster raises funds and awareness at earthquake vigil