Injured earthquake survivors from Turkiye arrive in Calgary: ‘We lost everything’

More than 50,000 people were killed while development experts from the United Nations estimate that about 1.5 million people were left homeless by the quake.

A Calgary man has just returned from Turkiye after spending nearly five months there helping his two siblings who were severely injured in the earthquake that struck Turkiye and Syria in February.

More than 50,000 people were killed while development experts from the United Nations estimate that about 1.5 million people were left homeless by the quake.

Mohammad Ajmal Nikzad left his home in Calgary to immediately to help his mom and three siblings who were living in Turkiye.

His brother and 19 year-old sister were injured. Lying beside them were the bodies of their mom and older sister who had been killed.

“We lost everything. They lost every single thing in their life that they had — even their legs and wishes,” Nikzad said from his northwest Calgary home.

His brother, Sayed Hashimy, spent 36 hours trapped under debris in the home he lived in with his mom and two sisters.

“I  heard her asking for help and asking to be saved,” Hashimy said. “She had fallen upside down and her mouth was in dust. She couldn’t breathe properly.

“A pillar was on my sister’s leg and they were trying to take her out. It took them more than three hours when they were trying to break the concrete and she was shouting and crying that it’s hurting.”