Türkiye woke up to a grim and dark winter morning on Monday amid scattered rubble and dead bodies with the colossal earthquakes affecting the country’s south and leaving over 14,000 people dead.

The 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes, centered in southern Türkiye’s Kahramanmaraş province, jolted 10 provinces including Adana, Adıyaman, Diyarbakır, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye and Şanlıurfa and affected over 13 million people. Türkiye is observing a seven-day period of national mourning after the devastating quakes.

Over 14,000 people were killed and nearly 64,000 others injured due to the powerful twin quakes, according to the latest announcement by Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) on Thursday.

Aid efforts are being intensified in Türkiye as the people heal the wounds that were inflicted by the devastating disaster. All kinds of aid and financial support from all over the world is pouring into the earthquake zones.

Okay, but who is helping? Not superhumans with cloaks or superpowers. The real heroes are mothers, fathers, teachers, students, doctors, miners, teenagers and even children.

Justifying the saying that "true heroes emerge in times of tragedy," many people have taken action without hesitation to inspire hope and offer comfort to those in desperate need. While the citizens were united together in the wake of devastating quakes, stories that melted hearts and raised hopes for humanity also emerged.

Touching notes, letters

While tons of aid was collected through the campaigns launched to help the earthquake victims from all over Türkiye, the notes on the aid collected were quite emotional. The notes written by the helpers, especially children, who supported the aid campaign with their toys once again revealed how self-sacrificing and benevolent the Turkish people are.

For example, Kaan and Idil, who are from northwestern Edirne province, donated their toys to support the charity campaign aimed at the children affected by the earthquake. "My dear friends, I hope you will be happy with the toys I sent. We love you, and our thoughts are with you," they said in a note they sent to the earthquake victims.

Another note written by a little girl with a big heart, Lina, who supported the aid campaign launched in Antalya with her toys, also touched hearts. "Love from Lina. We are always with you. I hope my toys have made you a little happy," read the note attached to Lina's toy box.

Among the notes from kids, there is a piece of paper that read "I hope you have a house like this" next to the drawing of a house, as well as some money taped to a little rabbit toy.

In Türkiye, which declared a week of mourning, education was suspended across the country. Dorms administered by the General Directorate of Higher Education Student Loans and Dormitories (KYK) were evacuated in order to provide shelter for earthquake victims. While returning to their family homes, the students staying in the dormitories left their personal belongings and food for the earthquake victims to use. The students displayed a rare example of compassion leaving notes on the materials, which read "It's all yours, feel free to use or eat."

Social media users could not remain indifferent to this sacrifice, either. One of the users said that he bought gloves for his daughter, but she wanted to send the gloves to the earthquake victims.

Another one shared that "Türkiye is the land of mercy."

I think her comment best exemplifies the true nature of Türkiye and the Turkish nation.

Ex-survivors help others

The memories of previous earthquake survivors, who experienced the same pain, are still fresh. Reliving the pain after the quakes in Kahramanmaraş, the survivors recalled their tragic experiences.

Alparslan Efe Demir, a little boy in northwestern Düzce province, who survived an earthquake last year, has donated his pocket money for the relief efforts for his peers since he was heartbroken when he saw the destruction on television.

It was only a couple of months ago that Demir had to stay in the tents set up by Türkiye's AFAD after a magnitude 5.9 earthquake hit Düzce in November.

The 9-year-old told his mother, Sinem Demir, that he wanted to send the money in his piggy bank to his peers. The boy also touched the Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay) employees with the letter he wrote for the survivors.

"I was very scared when there was an earthquake in Düzce. I had the same fear when I heard about the earthquake in many of our cities. That is why I decided to send the pocket money given by my elders to the children there," he wrote in his letter.

"It is okay if I do not buy chocolate here. The children there should not be cold or hungry. I will send my clothes and toys to the children there," he added.

In the Sandıklı district of Afyonkarahisar, two children delivered their pocket money to the municipality teams to be delivered to the earthquake victims. Fourteen-year-old Şule Karaaslan and 13-year-old Adnan Emre Özyumak handed over their TL 225 they had saved to the authorities to support earthquake victims.

Adnan Emre Özyumak said: "We brought the pocket money we saved for earthquake relief and delivered them to the Sandıklı Municipality police teams. Let the children there not be cold and take care of themselves."

Another emotional event is a note on a package that came from the northwestern Yalova province. The note, written by a grieving mother whose son passed away while he was serving in the Turkish military, read, "The socks that my martyr could not wear."

"I can send these with my limited resources, my heart will warm up when you wear the coat I sent," read another note attached to a package of baby diapers.

In these dark days, unfortunately, we're witnessing evil as well as good. However, I believe that the beam of hope spread by the good and real heroes is stronger and will prevail. I want to believe that because if we lose faith and hope, what is left of humanity?