Four Australians unaccounted for in Turkey earthquake disaster

Foreign Minister Penny Wong says four Australians are unaccounted for in Turkey as the government sends in a team of specialists to help with the quake rescue mission.

Four Australians are unaccounted for as rescuers continue desperate search for survivors of two earthquakes that flattened cities in southern Turkey and northern Syria.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong confirmed the news during Senate question time on Thursday.

“The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade are providing consular assistance, including to the families of four Australians who were in the region at the time of the earthquake and I regret to say at this stage, remain unaccounted for,” she told the Senate.

Officials are also providing consular assistance to another 40 Australians and their families who are in the earthquake area.

Australia is also sending a team of up to 72 urban search and rescue specialists to Turkey to help local authorities, aiming to having boots on the ground by the end of the week.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the specialists were highly trained to locate, deliver medical assistance to and remove victims who have been trapped or impacted by a structural collapse.

“I want to thank the personnel and their families in advance. Once again, their willingness to support people wherever support is needed,” Mr Albanese said.

“I’m sure I speak for all Australians when I wish them all a safe journey.”

SYDNEY BUILDER DESCRIBES HARROWING SCENES

A Turkish-Australian builder has described harrowing scenes on the ground in Turkey where two earthquakes have flattened cities, leaving his friends to sleep in their cars in the freezing cold.

The death toll stands at more than 7000 and authorities are saying it could climb up to 20,000.

Sydney builder Arda Dalcik said his family living on Turkey’s west coast reported feeling tremors from smaller earthquakes in the weeks leading up to the mega 7.8 magnitude quake on Monday.

Nine hours later a second earthquake with a magnitude of 7.5 followed with at least 200 aftershocks.

Mr Dalcik got off the phone on Wednesday with a close friend living in Osmaniye – about 30 minutes from the earthquake epicentre.

Rescue volunteers take a break during a search operation in Elbistan. Picture: Mehmet Kacmaz/Getty Images

Photos of the destruction outside of Osmaniye. Picture: Supplied

“He was sleeping that morning and heard the tremors so he ran out into the street and saw a building collapse right next to him,” Mr Dalcik said.

“He’s lost a lot of friends and neighbours.”

Temperatures plummeted below zero overnight in Osmaniye, where locals are sleeping in their cars with nothing but the clothes they ran out of their homes in on Monday morning.

“They are being told they can’t go back inside the buildings until an engineering report is done, so they could be in this situation for weeks,” he said.

“And some of these buildings will need to be demolished, so these people will be suffering for a bit of a long haul.”

The magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit near Gaziantep has created widespread destruction in Turkey and Syria. Picture: Mehmet Kacmaz/Getty Images

Mr Dalcik said there were a lot of cracks on the roads, making it difficult for emergency responders to get into areas where help is needed.

“At the moment they are all just sleeping in cars in the street and hovering around fuel barrels and using the debris from the buildings to make fire to keep warm,” he said.

“There is still no electricity and the bakeries have no ovens on, you can’t even get bread.”

However, some essential supplies have made it into the town, including blankets and food.

“The Turkish community, they really stick up for each other, so from what I’m hearing there is people from the west of the country making their own way down to volunteer,” Mr Dalcik said.

He has started a GoFundMe page to raise funds that will be donated to organisations on the ground in Turkey.

Can Pahali is missing in Turkey. Picture: Sunrise

His niece Katherine is asking for help to find him. Picture: Sunrise

Family’s desperate plea

The niece of an Australian man who remains missing in the rubble of a Turkish town after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake has made a desperate plea for help.

Can Pahali was holidaying in Hatay where his sister lives when the tremor rocked the city in the early hours of Monday morning.

His niece Katherine Pahali told Sunrise the three other people staying in the house with her uncle had since been recovered – with just one survivor.

“We were last in contact with him four hours before the earthquake actually happened,” she said on Wednesday morning.

The family did not know at first where Mr Pahali was staying but eventually were able to make contact with people on the ground.

“Three of them have been found. One of them is alive, but my uncle has not been found,” she said.

Ms Pahali said she was getting “third-party news” from people she “doesn't even really know” who are reaching out via Instagram and Facebook.

“I have lost contact with anyone in that city for the last five or six hours. I cannot contact anyone,” she said.

His nephew has just flown over to help find him. Picture: Sunrise

“I really hope that they are alive. We are clinging onto any hope.”

Feeling helpless here in Australia, Ms Pahali’s brother bought tickets and is on-board a flight to Turkey to help find her uncle on the ground.

The situation is still incredibly dangerous in Turkey where hundreds of buildings have been damaged by tremors from the earthquake, and many people are sleeping in their cars for fear the buildings could crumble.

The family is desperate for news from anyone in the region who may be able to help or someone with loved ones in the area who may have a means of contact.

“Alive or not, we just want to know,” Ms Pahali said.

“We just need to know where he is.

“We hope that the Australian government can help us find him.”