Turkey-Syria earthquake: Sutton Coldfield bar owner deals with family deaths

Seyhmus Ozdemir has been collecting donations for the survivors of the earthquakes

A bar owner who has lost more than half a dozen members of his wider family in Turkey's earthquakes says the world needs to think of the survivors, even as they grieve for those lost.

Seyhmus Ozdemir's youngest brother died alongside many of his family.

More than 22,000 people are known to have died following the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria on Monday.

Mr Ozdemir, from Sutton Coldfield is collecting warm clothes and money for those in need.

He said he had been video-calling his mother in the hours before the earthquake hit and that it took him a while to decide what to do about the situation.

As well as his youngest brother's family, he has lost other members of his extended family.

He said another brother had broken down on the phone delivering the news.

"We usually say men never cry in our culture, but we do cry when you're faced to something like that," Mr Ozdemir said.

Several members of Mr Ozdemir's family have died in the earthquakes

He added that the initial word from family members had been positive - that they were all ok - but then news of the deaths started to filter through.

Emma Ozdemir said her husband was one of 10 siblings and his youngest brother's home had "just dropped like a concertina, completely destroyed".

She is a community nurse with the Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust and said it hard to get her head around "such a massive loss of life".

"So many families are in the same position as ours, feeling numb with shock about it all," she said.

An appeal by the Disasters Emergency Committee raised almost £33m on its first day.

Mr Ozdemir has collected dozens of bags of clothes and other items to send to the survivors and has been operating as a hub for other members of the local Turkish community who want to donate,

"Today is the day we can become a something a hero, a hero to those people who are in need," he said.