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Earthquake in Syria and Turkey

© action medeor / IBC

Even months after the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, thousands of people continue to need help.

Background information

On February 6, 2023, a severe earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 shook regions of Turkey and Syria. More quakes follow shortly afterwards. Almost 60,000 people die, houses and roads are destroyed, and thousands of families lose their homes.

Six months later

Six months after the severe earthquakes, the need in the affected regions of both countries is still great. Thousands of people are living in tents, many have lost their jobs, and the experience has left scars - both physical and mental. action medeor supports people with, among other things, medical and psychological care.

 

Our help in numbers

Six months after the quakes, action medeor, together with local partners, has:

  • distributed around 70,000 warm meals
  • financed 4,000 wool blankets and more than 10,000 hygiene kits
  • provided hundreds of families with sleeping bags, stoves, winter and baby clothing
  • reached more than 13,000 people with mobile health teams

In Turkey, authorities and aid organizations estimate that it will take four to five years until housing is rebuilt. Meanwhile, people live in small and large tent cities. In one of these accommodations, action medeor has set up a large community tent and sanitary facilities and provides daily food distribution.

The situation in the Syrian camps is almost even more dramatic. Due to the refugee movements within the country, there were already large camps here, which were expanded to include additional tents after the earthquake. Some people have been living here for many years and there is little hope for improvement. action medeor works on site with the help of mobile teams and in collaboration with the hospital in Azaz to ensure that people who need medical or psychological help are treated.

Rapid emergency response

In the early hours of the morning on February 6th, directly after the first earthquake, we received calls for help from our partners in the affected regions in Syria and Turkey. Together with our partners, who began the first relief measures in the first few hours afterwards, we initiated emergency aid:

Earthquake victims were provided with medical care, hot meals, water, tents and blankets and accommodated in reception facilities. At the same time, we began assembling the first relief supplies in our warehouse: among other things, bandages, patient monitors and oxygen concentrators were packed in order to send them to the affected areas as quickly as possible.

Working with local partner organisations

action medeor works with Turkish and Syrian partner organisations that have been working in the regions for years. In the first step, a lot of relief supplies were procured directly on site so that they could be delivered to the operational area as quickly as possible. The aid transports from action medeor's medicine warehouse in Tönisvorst can also play a major role in the long-term supply of people with important medical supplies.