Press action medeor

Helpers from action medeor and the local partner organization IBC were on the ground shortly after the disaster to help the people. “Our mobile medical teams spent the first few days treating wounds, rinsing eyes and stabilizing broken limbs,” Markus Bremers, press spokesman for action medeor, explains who himself was on the ground a few days after the earthquake. In the meantime, action medeor has carried out over 12,000 treatments with its mobile teams in Turkey and Syria. “In addition, the aim was to ensure that people's basic needs were met - with food, water, warm clothing and hygiene products,” Bremers explains. In the last twelve months, more than 210,000 meals have been distributed and a total of over 64,000 people have been reached with humanitarian aid.

“We were able to help many people to ensure their survival after the disaster,” Bremers summarizes one year after the disaster, “but there are still major challenges.” For many of those affected, a normal life is still not in sight. “Most of the houses are still destroyed, in some cases entire villages,” Bremers says. Many families are living in improvised dwellings, containers or tents, often in very confined spaces. “There are usually only 20 square meters available for an average of five or six people, sometimes up to eleven people have to share this space,” Bremers reports. In addition, even a year after the disaster, many families still do not have normal cooking and washing facilities. “These circumstances and living in such cramped conditions continue to put a strain on people's mental and physical health to this day,” Bremers says.

In recent months, action medeor has therefore focused its humanitarian aid on those population groups that are particularly affected by these challenges: “We look after unaccompanied children and young people, people with disabilities and those who are sick, poor, refugees, elderly or single parents,” Bremers lists. “This is often not just about securing their physical existence, but also about ensuring that people have access to social services - for example, that children can go to school, families receive state support or sick people receive treatment in hospital.”

A year after the earthquake, there are plenty of examples of this. For example, eight-year-old Merva, who suffers from muscle weakness and anemia and is now regularly taken to hospital by helpers, where she receives medication and treatment. Or the 68-year-old pensioner who lay under the rubble of his house for two days and has been unable to walk ever since. “Because the earthquake took away his entire family, he was without relatives who could have cared for him,” Bremers explains. “When our mobile team became aware of the man, he not only received care, medication and hot meals, but also better accommodation, a wheelchair and support in applying for his disability pension,” Bremers says. “Today, he regularly attends the senior citizens' afternoons at a community center we support and is able to regain his courage.”

In addition to this individual assistance, action medeor is also helping to build medical infrastructure. Over the next few months, a medicine warehouse is to be set up in the Syrian part of the earthquake zone, which will lay the foundations for providing healthcare to thousands of people in the region. “Even one year after the earthquake, our humanitarian task is not over,” Bremers states.

Your contact person