TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwanese-Turkish TV show host Ugur Rifat Karlova, better known as Wu Feng (吳鳳), has spoken about the Taiwanese response to the devastating 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake, the reaction to Taiwanese aid in Turkey, and how people in Taiwan can help out now.
During the interview with Taiwan News, Karlova said that to reciprocate for previous help by Turkish teams during a massive local earthquake, Taiwan was one of the first to send a search and rescue team. He said that people in Turkey were touched by the generous aid donations by Taiwanese.
Karlova explained that he decided to take part in a religious pilgrimage in Taiwan at this time to generate positive energy for his country in its time of need. He said that although his hometown is far from the epicenter of the quake, he still has many friends and acquaintances who were affected.
What has been the response in Taiwan to the earthquake in Turkey?
First of all, when Taiwanese people received information about the earthquake in Turkey, they really wanted to help. Because Taiwanese really know about earthquakes.
In 1999, there was a very big earthquake in Taiwan. In Chinese, they call it the "921 earthquake." At that time a Turkish rescue team came to Taiwan to help save people.
So, after this earthquake, Taiwanese people said, "It's our turn, now we're going to help your country." And they kept asking me questions such as "how can we help, what can we do?"
Even the government started to make plans to help Turkey. After the first day, Taiwan had already sent 130 rescue team members to Turkey.
Taiwan was one of the first and fastest rescue teams to arrive in the earthquake zone. It shows that Taiwanese people really care a lot about Turkey's earthquake.
What has been the reaction in Turkey to the Taiwan rescue and relief efforts?
Wow, every day I heard many things about the Taiwanese team because Turkish media, for the first time, reported so much news about Taiwan. The first thing is, the rescue team has already saved two lives from the collapsed debris.
And also, they got a lot of attention from other media organizations. So, Taiwanese people got much attention from Turkish media and also the Turkish people.
I sent much news from Taiwan to Turkey and Turkish people would ask me the same question: "Taiwan and Turkey are two different places, and we have an 8,000 km distance (separating us), how and why do Taiwanese people help us that much?"
It's not a country next to Turkey, it's not on the border, so Taiwanese efforts, love, and care really surprised Turkish people. The Taiwanese government already sent US$2.2 million. Then, Taiwanese people raised, almost US$30 million, it's like half of the American government's budget (allocated to Turkey).
The American government gave Turkey US$60 million, but this money came from the government. But Taiwanese people sent to Turkey US$30 million.
Also, our Turkish office started to make a campaign to donate clothes, donate some materials that are needed in the earthquake zone. Taiwanese people donated 200 tons of clothes and the Turkish representative office said, "Thank you very much, we don't have enough storage."
Our representative, said, "I never thought we would get that many donations!" Everybody was shocked, including me. I know Taiwanese were going to help Turkey, but it was beyond all limits.
The storage area was full of items and materials. Thank you very much Taiwanese people.
What inspired you to go on the Baishatun Mazu pilgrimage?
I really like Taiwan's events, like temple events. I love the local culture of Taiwan. I had been planning to make it, but after the earthquake occurred, I said to myself, "This is for Turkey!"
In Taiwan, as you know, people like to seek peace and safety, they like peace and harmony. I decided this time that I am going to tell Mazu "Turkey needs peace and Turkey needs harmony."
I joined the event with thousands of people and that atmosphere was also very touching because every Taiwanese person said the same thing, "Wu Feng, go Turkey. We are praying for Turkey!"
I could feel that even in that place, Taiwanese people were praying for Turkey, that was a very meaningful thing from Taiwan.
Do you have any family or friends who have been affected by the quake?
Yes, I have many friends who have been affected. I live very far away from this place because the earthquake occurred in Kahramanmaras Province. It's in the southeast part of Turkey, almost 1,000 km away from my city, I'm very close to Istanbul.
I don't have any family there, but I have many friends. Among my friends, some of them have lost their family members.
For example, a wife of one my friends said her sister's boyfriend passed away because of the earthquake, and they were planning to marry. In Danshui, there is a guy from Kahramanmaras City who sells Turkish ice cream, he lost eight or 10 family members.
This earthquake was a very massive earthquake. There was one magnitude 7.8 earthquake and nine hours later, there was another earthquake that was magnitude 7.6.
The size of the earthquake, the area, is two or three times bigger than Taiwan. Think about it, an earthquake happens in Taipei, but kills people in Nantou, Taichung, Kaohsiung, and even further. It was a really massive earthquake and one of the biggest in Turkish history.
What are the greatest needs, and what can people in Taiwan do to help out now?
Actually, Taiwanese people helped a lot. They sent many materials, and they donated a lot of money. We need tents, we need blankets, and we need clothes for winter, because Turkey is now going through winter and it's very cold.
In the evening, it's like minus 3 to 4 degrees Celsius and sometimes it's snowing, so we need things for winter. This is very important.
We need prefabricated houses, that is the kind of thing we are looking for. Taiwanese people can still donate money to local NGOs.
For example, they can donate to Ahbap, which is a very famous team working for Turkey. They can donate to AKUT which is also a search and rescue team.
They can donate to other NGOs, or they can donate via the UN Crisis Relief webpage for the Turkey-Syria Earthquake. This is time to help Turkey and I want to share this message to Taiwanese people and all people because Turkey is looking for more help and support from around the world.