DEVASTATION

Illinois Man Lost 100 Relatives in Turkey Quake

His parents and siblings survived but dozens of other relatives perished.

An Illinois man says 100 members of his extended family died in the earthquake that devastated Turkey and Syria last month. Mehmet Deniz, who lives in the Chicago suburb of Palatine, told the Chicago Tribune that his brother called him from the Turkish city of Antakya as the quake was happening. “When we were talking, I could hear the buildings, the sound of buildings collapsing. I was really scared,” he said. His parents and siblings survived, but he later got dreadful news about other family members. “We found out that 50 of them were dead, we didn’t know yet about the others,” he said. “We didn’t know if they were also alive or not. Now I know, 100 of my relatives have died.”