Bournemouth restaurant owner in Turkey delivering food and supplies

Samet Macit, who owns Da Mario in Westbourne, has been lending his services to help take supplies to some of the most remote areas of Turkey that have been hit by the quakes.

He told the Daily Echo that the situation is much worse than is being reported.

“Every day there’s another earthquake” Samet said.

“Since I’ve been here, there’s probably been more than seven or eight earthquakes.

“There was one at 10 this morning. It may not be on the high end of the Richter scale, but where there’s been such a big earthquake already, these buildings have been damaged by the earthquake.”

• Read more: Ty Temel appeals for donations for Turkey earthquake relief

Due to the damage caused by the quakes in the cities, many people have fled to the surrounding villages.

It is currently winter in Turkey, with people living in tents in freezing temperatures due to fears of further quakes causing buildings to collapse.

Samet has a modified pick-up truck, which he has been loading up with food to take to villages where other support cannot get through quickly enough.

“I found a friend locally who’s got the same vehicle, and we took two vehicles full of food and necessities to a village,” Samet said.

“We shared all the produce between 30 to 35 families. We bought 25kg bags of flour, we bought 35 of those. We bought 100kg of potatoes, onions, whatever was there and was available.”

Samet is using his social media to share images of what he has been doing, to show those who have donated to support him exactly where their money is going.

“Every penny that I’ve spent, I’ve got the receipts,” he said.

“If I can give them security to give them a 25kg bag of flour, that will make enough bread for a month, or if it’s a big family, maybe two weeks. That’s going to give them some sort of relief to know that they’ve got some food supply for at least a few weeks.

“We did a big donation towards stoves. Collectively we took 2,100 stoves. Me personally, with my friends and family, we took over 100 stoves.

“But that’s nothing, if you do the basic maths.

“I’m a one-man band with thankfully some financial support behind me from the community of Bournemouth, but I can only do so much. But at least collectively we’re trying to do something.”

Samet is good friends with Bournemouth businessman Ty Temel, and they are going to combine resources when he arrives in Turkey at the end of February.

“We’re going to collaborate, he’s got nearly £10,000 in donations, I’ve got probably more than £4,500," said Samet.

“We’re going to try and do what we can.”

If you would like to donate to his work, search for Samet Macit on Facebook.