Turkish cousins in Switzerland sell cakes to help quake-hit Türkiye

By Muhammet Ikbal Arslan

GENEVA (AA) – Turkish cousins living in Switzerland's canton of Solothurn are selling cakes to help quake-hit Türkiye.

Born and raised in Switzerland, Zumra Melek Caliskan and Nisanur Sahin are students of fourth grade, and will send their contributions to Türkiye via the country's disaster agency AFAD.

Caliskan and Sahin, both 10 years old, expressed to Anadolu their sorrow over the Feb. 6 tremblors in which over 31,000 people have so far died.

"I put myself in the victims' place and understood them better," Caliskan said. "I thought about ways to help them and this is the idea I had. At first, I gathered my books and toys to sell. I also wanted adults to help so my mother and I decided to bake cakes."

She said her Swiss customers have appreciated the efforts, and even donated without buying anything.

The little girl said they collected 725 Swiss francs ($784) on the first day, higher than her expectations.

Her cousin, Sahin, said they will keep selling cakes and toys to help Türkiye until their winter break ends next week.

More than 31,600 people have died and over 80,000 others injured in two strong earthquakes that jolted southern Türkiye on Feb. 6, according to the latest official figures.

The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 earthquakes, centered in the Kahramanmaras province, have impacted some 13 million people across 10 Turkish provinces, including Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, and Sanliurfa.

*Writing by Nur Asena Erturk in Ankara