Restaurateur holds fundraiser after losing 18 relatives in Turkiye earthquake

Victims of the earthquake in Adana, south Turkiye. Photo: Depo Photos/ZUMA Press Wire/TNS

After the deadliest earthquake in more than a decade struck Turkiye and Syria earlier in February, tragedy runs deep more than 6,600 miles (10,622km) away in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the United States.

Turkyish native Erdal Bengogullari said 18 members of his extended family have died in the catastrophe that struck on Feb 6. Eleven of those cousins, nieces, nephews and in-laws on his mother's side were in the same apartment building in Adana, Bengogullari's hometown and a city that was hard hit by the disaster.