Rockets forward Şengün on earthquake-ravaged homeland: 'The pain we experience is indescribable'

Second-year Houston Rockets forward Alperen Şengün expressed heartache and support for his native Turkey after the Eurasian nation was rocked by a magnitude 7.8 earthquake on Monday. 

The earthquake, which also jolted neighboring Syria to the southwest, claimed close to 3,000 lives in Turkey as of press time with rescue teams racing against time to pull survivors out of collapsed buildings. 

“The pain we experience is indescribable,” the 20-year-old Şengün, whom the Rockets acquired in a draft day trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2021, said in a tweet. “My prayers, my heart is with our citizens who were affected by the earthquake in Kahramanmaraş.”

Şengün also mourned his compatriots that were killed in the earthquake, which Reuters reported is the world’s biggest recorded since August 2021. 

“[Rest in peace] to those who lost their lives,” he continued in the tweet. “I wish a speedy recovery to the injureds [sic].” 

Şengün logged 36 minutes in the Rockets’ 140-120 loss to the Sacramento Kings, the first game he played since the tragedy in his homeland. 

He scored 15 points and hauled down seven boards.

Reuters reported that the earthquake inflicted catastrophic damage to entire apartment buildings, wrecked hospitals and rendered thousands of people either injured or homeless. 

Citing Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), Reuters reported that approximately 8,000 people have been rescued. 

Aside from vast swaths of wreckage, crews were challenged by the region’s freezing cold weather.

Yahoo Sports reported that the U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake rumbled at 4:17 a.m. Turkey time, which is nine hours ahead of Houston, in the southern Turkish province of Kahramanmaraş. 

Kahramanmaraş is 640 southwest of Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city. 

Şengün said his loved ones back home have been accounted for.