Nottingham woman's 87-year-old father slept in car after quake

Ms Baurak said some of her friends had lost loved ones

A British-Syrian community leader has described how her 87-year-old father had to sleep in his car following last week's major earthquake.

Lena Baurak, 57, from Nottingham, is organising donations for Syrian people affected by the disaster.

She said her father and stepmother had "woken in terror" in their fourth-floor apartment in Latakia, Syria when the quake struck on 6 February.

Both are safe and back in their home now, she added.

Collapse fears

The UN has reported a death toll of about 6,000 in Syria after the deadly earthquake, which killed at least 28,000 people in Turkey.

Ms Baurak said: "When the earthquake happened, my dad and my stepmother woke up in terror and tried to rush outside of their apartment in fear that the whole building would collapse.

"They live on the fourth floor and they were petrified that they were not going to make it in time, and they will be trapped under the rubble if, God forbid, their building had collapsed because of my dad's slow movement as he is 87 years old.

"But thankfully, somehow, they managed to escape their building and drove their car to an area in Latakia where they felt safer because there were less high-rises around.

"They spent the rest of the night in their car there."

About 6,000 Syrians are believed to have died in the disaster, the UN has said

Her father and stepmother spent the following night with relatives before returning to their home once they were sure it was safe.

Ms Baurak, a board member at Syrian Charities and Associations Network UK, is now organising donation efforts in her local area to help Syrians affected by the earthquake.

She said Syrians were "not getting much support" and she was concerned some people think the earthquake only happened in Turkey.

"Day by day we're just finding out more and more about this catastrophe which, you know, is unimaginable," she said.

"Our friends here started collecting money to send to trusted contacts we know on the ground so they can buy stuff there and distribute it to people."