Norwich rallies to help Turkey and Syria earthquake victims

A 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck west of Gaziantep in the early hours of Monday, February 6.

Back on home soil, the weekly quiz at the Garden House in Pembroke Road on Monday will give all proceeds to the appeal.

Members of the UK International Search and Rescue (UKISAR) team in Hatay, Turkey looking for survivors of the devastating earthquakes (Image: Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office)

Previous quizzes, hosted by Robert 'Pondy' Pond, have raised upwards of £300 for appeals including Ukraine.

The 68-year-old said: "It's all in aid of earthquake victims.

"Our audience is mostly students so it's great to see them give what they can and digging deep."

Robert Pond - known as Pondy - quizmaster at the Garden House in Norwich, which is hosting a quiz where all proceeds with be donated to appeals for Turkey and Syria following the earthquake - Picture: Casey Cooper-Fiske (Image: Casey Cooper-Fiske)

Over at Royal Arcade food hall Yalm, vendors teamed up with £1 per transaction being donated.

Operations manager Dan Searle confirmed that more than £1,500 had been raised on Saturday, with customers also pledging extra donations at the checkout.

"It was a collective decision and it was great to make this happen," he said.

Dan Searle, operations manager at Yalm in Norwich's Royal Arcade (Image: Fixr Digital)

"It was a relatively simple thing to do when we're such a large operation, albeit made up of lots of smaller ones.

"It was important to come together and be part of a wider effort. It's such a colossal tragedy.

"There's no hard-and-fast plan to do this again but with this being such a large-scale effort we may do - but I'm sure there are other charitable efforts people want to get on board with."

Diners at Yalm food hall in Norwich's Royal Arcade - Picture: Sam Tyler (Image: Sam Tyler)

Other businesses city-wide are doing their part to help affected families overseas acting as a collection point for donations.

These include Sultan restaurant in Colman Road, Euroland in Aylsham Road, Amigos Kebab Shop in Hall Road and Antep Kitchen in Dereham Road.

Antep Kitchen owner Soner Karali's mother Cenet, 70 died in the quake, which has left his father Sevket fighting for his life and other members of his family missing.

Soner Karali, who owns Antep Kitchen Turkish restaurant in Dereham Road, Norwich - Picture: Sophie Wyllie (Image: Sophie Wyllie)