The crowd outside the Town Hall on Monday

CALLS for donations and solidarity rang out at a vigil held for the victims of the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria.

Exactly two weeks on from the disaster, a crowd gathered outside Town Hall on Monday to honour those lost.

The earthquake has killed more than 46,000 people, with experts predicting the true number of fatalities to be much higher.

The vigil, organised by Islington Council, took place an hour after another 6.4-magnitude tremor struck Antakya in Turkey, near the Syrian border.

“I’ve lost 26 family members.vAnother one of my relatives was lost today. She escaped the earthquake, but she died in hospital from her injuries,” Nebal Istanbouly, a Syrian man who attended the vigil, told the Tribune.

“Vigils like tovnight are very helpful.They raise awareness more and more.

” People know the situation in Turkey and Syria, but they don’t know exactly what’s needed in terms of donations.

“More people have lost their homes again, they are on the streets,” he said.

The need for donations is paramount, as those impacted are desperate for shelter, food, and clean water.

Enes Susun, a Turkish representative from Muslim Welfare House in Finsbury Park, said: “Survivors were literally removed from the rubble by bare hands. They have lost literally everything and they have no money to buy even the most basic things.

” Mr Susun said donations make “a very real difference to survivors” and will provide “emergency shelter, food blankets, hygiene kits, as well as the cash support to buy what they specifically need”.

While donations were not collected at the vigil, the council encouraged people to donate to the Disasters Emergency Committee, British Red Cross, Human Relief Foundation, or Islamic Relief.

The vigil was also an opportunity for solidarity and for communities to share their grief.

Walid Saffour, founder of the Syrian Human Rights Committee and a member of Finsbury Park Mosque, who has family in both Syria and Turkey, told the Tribune: “I’m here tonight to show solidarity with our people.

“We are human, we are like each other – no colour, no religion, no nothing, can differentiate us. My brother-in-law survived with his family, all six of them. But they have deep cuts and he has broken his leg, and their eyes have been affected by the dust – they’ve been traumatised.”

Speakers at the vigil acknowledged the trauma and suffering of the victims.

Tufnell Park councillor Gulcin Ozdemir, who is Kurdish, said: “We are shellshocked and we can’t find the words. But, this coming together, it really helps us with our own grief.

“I know the first 48 hours for many of you was just as terrifying as it was for us – not knowing if my family were OK, struggling to get in contact with them.”

Anger at the delay in getting aid to northern Syria, which is controlled by various groups that oppose the Bashar al-Assad regime, was voiced.

The regime considers bringing aid to the area a violation of its sovereignty and has vetoed multiple UN Security Council votes to maintain aid routes into the area from Turkey.

Islington North MP Jeremy Corbyn also voiced outrage at the poor regulation that led to the collapse of so many buildings in Turkey.

He said: “The corruption that led to the building of hospitals, schools, houses, hotels, and lots of other buildings without proper procedures, without proper safety checks, and without any earthquake-proof arrangements being made is a lesson for the future – that we all pay a price when corners are cut, when regulations are broken, and when corruption takes over.”

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