Families from across Blackburn collected a huge amount of supplies to send towards the Turkey and Syria earthquake relief efforts.

People were galvanised into action following the heart breaking scenes of destruction in Turkey and Syria over the past week.

By Friday night hundreds of items had poured into Audley Community Centre and within days mountains of supplies had been collected.

Organisers of the appeal had specifically asked for medicines and non-perishable goods. Volunteers worked late into the night packing all the goods into boxes.

The Blackburn appeal was among a number of events launched over the past week across the region but was quite easily the biggest involving a range of businesses and volunteers of all ages.

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Children helped to pack boxes and assist the aid effort at Audley Community Centre

The appeal was organised by Safiya Kamboli and Raeesa.

Safiya and Raeesa said: “It was a wonderful effort by people from across the community and done at really short notice.

“Within hours of launching the appeal the community centre was inundated with supplies.

“We have filled one container and have now asked members of the public to stop donating.

“Any further appeals will look to ask businesses to supply specific goods and products.

“We would like to thank everyone who has already donated and helped to pack the products late into the night.”

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People were galvanised into action following the heart breaking scenes of destruction 

The appeal was managed by Safiya Kamboli (@missofi_k), Masjid-e-Saliheen, Audley Community Centre, Zakir Kamboli, The @onenationuk charity and Raeesah from Valentina Rose (@valentinarose.co).

The organisers wished to thank Mubarak Hitler, Sheth’s Bathrooms for providing the transport, EP Properties for supplying the storage space and unit ahead of the shipment, Rightway Cash and Carry, Ellen Shirley, Noor Mohmed Valli, Chaiwala, Waheed’s Restaurant and Chai Station for providing the refreshments for volunteers.

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Van and truck loads were collected from the centre and loaded on to a container which is due to go out

The quake and hundreds of aftershocks, some nearly as powerful as the first, struck south-eastern Turkey and northern Syria on February 6, killing more than 35,000 people and reducing whole swathes of towns and cities inhabited by millions 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)

Senior United Nations officials conceded that help to quake victims in Syria had been too slow, and Turkey on Monday offered to open a second border crossing to assist the international effort.

Some 62 miles (100km) from the epicentre, almost no houses were left standing in the village of Polat, where residents salvaged refrigerators, washing machines and other goods from wrecked homes.