Earthquake Emergency in Turkey and Syria
At 4:17 at night between the 5th and 6th of February and again on the morning of 6th February at around 11.30 two earthquakes of magnitude – 7.8 and 7.5 respectively– struck Turkey and Syria.
There are dozens of cities affected by the earthquakes and hundreds of buildings have been reduced to rubble. The victims, at the moment, have exceeded 40,000.
The Northeastern area of Syria, where we have been present for years, was also severely affected. Fortunately our local staff are safe for now, but many have had to leave their homes. They are the ones who keep us updated, and let us know that the number of displaced families in need are already around 11 thousand.
On this link the testimony of one of our colleagues as reported by the ‘Corriere della Sera’.
The city of Jindires, in the district of Afrin, in the northeast of Syria suffered the worst fate where rescue efforts continue to search for people under the rubble. Many buildings have collapsed, which had already been heavily damaged in the past by violent Turkish attacks.
We offer all our sympathies to the families of the victims and as always we stand side by side with our colleagues and of all the populations affected by the earthquake. We are taking action with our local staff to respond to this emergency, and to best support the population with the distribution of food, first aid kits, tents and whatever else will be needed to address this latest crisis. In this situation, the distribution of humanitarian and medical aid is urgent and essential.