Celebrity chef Salt Bae is aiming to feed 5,000 people every day in his native Turkey after the devastating earthquake there.
The famous restauranteur, 39, – real name Nusret Gokce – who is from Pasali in Turkey, has arranged for a mobile kitchen to go to the disaster zone.
The combined death toll in Turkey and neighbouring Syria from last Monday’s 7.8 magnitude quake rose above 37,000 on Monday and looked set to keep increasing.
The UN has warned that the death toll could spiral past 55,000.
The chef took to his Instagram to show off the food truck and wrote in a caption: ‘We started serving hot food to more people, targeting 5000 people every day!’
Kind: Celebrity chef Salt Bae is aiming to feed 5,000 people every day in his native Turkey after the devastating earthquake there
‘It will be the most important and meaningful service in the world for us.’
The lorry with his name on the side was packing up and heading out from a warehouse while another post showed survivors queuing up to be fed in the cold.
Later in the clip chef volunteers were seen stirring huge pans of food as they prepared to serve people.
The magnitude 7.8 and 7.5 quakes struck nine hours apart in south-eastern Turkey and northern Syria on February 6.
The death toll from both countries on Monday exceeded 37,000, with the death toll expected to rise considerably as search teams find more bodies. Towns and cities lived in by millions have also been reduced to fragments of concrete and twisted metal.
The Turkish Enterprise and Business Confederation, a non-governmental business organisation, estimated the financial damage from the quake in Turkey alone at 84.1 billion US dollars (£69.3 billion).
The amount was considerably higher than any official estimates so far, and was calculated using a statistical comparison with the similarly devastating 1999 quake that hit north-west Turkey.
Turkey’s disaster agency said more than 32,000 people from the nation’s organisations were working on search-and-rescue efforts, along with 8,294 international rescuers.
Professor Angulo, lead author of a 2017 study of deaths inside buildings struck by earthquakes, said the odds of survival for people trapped in wreckage fall dramatically after five days and is near zero after nine, although there have been exceptions.
Food: The famous restauranteur, 39, – real name Nusret Gokce – who is from Pasali in Turkey, has arranged for a mobile kitchen to go to the disaster zone
Supplies: The lorry with his name on the side was packing up and heading out from a warehouse while another post showed survivors queuing up to be fed in the cold
Post: The chef took to his Instagram to show off the food truck and wrote in a caption: ‘We started serving hot food to more people, targeting 5000 people every day!’
Wintry conditions further reduce the window for survival. Temperatures in the region have fallen to -6C (21F) overnight.
A week after the quakes hit, many people are still without shelter in the streets.
Some survivors are waiting in front of collapsed buildings for the bodies of their loved ones to be retrieved.
Many in Turkey blame faulty construction for the vast devastation and authorities have begun targeting contractors allegedly linked with buildings that collapsed.
Cooking: Later in the clip chef volunteers were seen stirring huge pans of food as they prepared to serve people
Awful: The combined death toll in Turkey and neighbouring Syria from last Monday’s 7.8 magnitude quake rose above 37,000 on Monday and looked set to keep increasing
Charity work: Later in the clip chef volunteers were seen stirring huge pans of food as they prepared to serve people
At least 131 people are under investigation for their alleged responsibility in the construction of buildings that failed to withstand the quakes, officials said.
Turkey has introduced construction codes that meet earthquake-engineering standards, but experts say the codes are rarely enforced.
In Syria, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths said the international community has failed to provide aid.
Huge tragedy: The UN has warned that the death toll could spiral past 55,000 (pictured are the people waiting in line to get food from his truck)
Disaster: The magnitude 7.8 and 7.5 quakes struck nine hours apart in south-eastern Turkey and northern Syria on February 6
Hard: Wintry conditions further reduce the window for survival. Temperatures in the region have fallen to -6C (21F) overnight
Fame: Salt Bae is a celebrity chef who comes from Turkey and has been doing his best to help relief efforts
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