Earthquake survivors from Türkiye arrive in Calgary: ‘We lost everything’

A Calgary man has just returned from Turkey after spending nearly five months there helping his two brothers who were seriously injured in the earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria in February.

More than 50,000 people were killed, while development experts from the United Nations estimate that some 1.5 million people were displaced by the quake.

Muhammad Ajmal Nikzad left his home in Calgary to immediately help his mother and three brothers who were living in Turkey.

His 19-year-old brother and sister were injured. The dead bodies of their mother and older sister lay beside them.

“We lost everything. They lost everything in their lives — even their legs and their desires,” Nikzad said from his home in northwest Calgary.

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His brother, Syed Hashmi, spent 36 hours trapped under the rubble in the house he shared with his mother and two sisters.

Al-Hashemi said: “I heard her asking for help and asking for deliverance.” “She fell upside down and her mouth was covered in dust. She couldn’t breathe properly.

“It was a pole on my sister’s leg and they were trying to get it out. It took them more than three hours when they were trying to break the concrete and she was screaming and crying that it hurt.”

Hashmi, 26, said there were many people helping him pull him and his sister out from under the rubble. They were asking for their names and apartment numbers.

“When we said our names and apartment numbers,” he said, “they said, ‘Oh, they’re Syrian, leave them alone—let’s get out of here,’ and that’s why they stayed there longer.”

“I was trapped for 36 hours. I lost my leg.”

Al-Hashimi’s legs were amputated while he was in Türkiye.

Nikzad was able to locate his surviving brother and sister and bring them to Calgary five months after the earthquake.

He worries about the people left behind, especially those in Turkey who are refugees. His family moved there from Afghanistan and there are many from Syria. He said that many are still living in tents without proper medical care.

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“The crisis has just begun there,” Nikzad said. “People really need help now because they don’t have shelter. They don’t have food. They don’t have medicine. They need prosthetic legs, and if they don’t have legs, they won’t go back to normal life — they won’t be able to work.”

Hashemi was studying to be a mechanic in Türkiye. Now his future is uncertain.

“I had a lot of wishes before this happened. I wanted to go to the gym and become an athlete, but unfortunately I lost my legs,” Al-Hashemi said.

Canada introduced temporary special measures to support earthquake victims with “affected individuals prioritizing applications for temporary residence, permanent residents, and refugees.”

Despite the grief and trauma his family has experienced, Nikzad remains grateful and continues to support others who are still struggling to survive in Turkey.

He said: “I don’t know how they will live.” “I am lucky to live in such a beautiful country. But not everyone has this opportunity.

“I got help from the Canadian government, they accepted my brother and sister, and I’m happy to bring them here with me, but the others don’t have one. The crisis isn’t over yet. They really need help.”

He is grateful to his employers at A Gallery of Floors in Olds who have begun fundraising for his family.

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“Our customers love him (Nexad) and rave about his amazing personality—his laughter is infectious,” said Shawn White, owner of Flooring Gallery. “He is our family, and his family is our family.

He is the sole breadwinner for his family in Calgary and his family in Türkiye.

“The expenses he incurs will continue for many years to come. This family is struggling with unimaginable pain and horror.”

Nikzad said he is now facing his own crisis.

He said, “In the house where I live, the owner of the house called and wants to sell, so I have to find another house, but it is very difficult for me to get another house right away.”

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) prioritizes temporary and permanent residence applications, including applications for refugee resettlement, from affected clients in the region.

Canada has introduced new measures to make it easier for Turkish and Syrian nationals to extend their temporary status in Canada, and the opportunity to find a job while they are here.

“This will make it possible for Turkish and Syrian nationals already in Canada, including those who come from earthquake-affected areas, to stay and support themselves while the area rebuilds,” said a statement from IRCC.

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The measures will be in effect from March 29 to September 25, 2023.

As of February 8, 2023, there were approximately 16,000 IRCC clients with applications in progress in Turkey and Syria. Of these, approximately 1,700 (750 permanent residents and 920 temporary residents) were from the earthquake-affected area.

4:22 Turkey and Syria earthquakes: Canada announces plans to accept more Turkish and Syrian residents

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