Turkey earthquake: Aylesford restaurant owner to travel to country with aid

Thousands have died and more left homeless by the earthquake

A restaurateur is collecting aid for the victims of the Turkish earthquake, ahead of travelling to the country.

Mevlana Carcabuk, whose family owns Alim-Et in Aylesford, Kent, has lost relatives in the disaster.

His father is in Turkey and he lost an aunt and uncle in the collapse of a six-storey building.

"It's not a story of my family, your family, everyone out there from now on is my family," Mr Carcabuk told BBC Radio Kent.

He said he wants to target help to parts of the country that are yet to receive any.

A car buried by the roof of a house in Diyarbakir

"The epicentre of the earthquake is where we're from, it's such a small area," he said, "help has been out to the big cities.

"All of this week's income will be spent towards aid, blankets, food, water is the key thing they need at the moment.

"On Saturday night I'm flying from Heathrow. Me and my sisters have bought as much as we could from high street shops.

"Blankets, socks for kids, jackets, coats, we've managed to fill our van, which will be taken to Luton Airport to be transported out there."

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He said his wife was in Turkey working as an emergency doctor.

He said: "She was calling me constantly in tears, saying 'we're doing our best, there's 52 in our morgue already'."

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