A magnitude 7.8 earthquake devastated Turkey and Syria last night. The situation is catastrophic. Thousands of buildings have collapsed. More than 5,000 people are reported dead and thousands more injured. The toll is still provisional and is getting worse by the hour. Not to mention all the internally displaced people in Syria, who find themselves out in the cold without shelter. Emergency services and medical staff are overwhelmed in their efforts to come to the aid of these people. Our Mehad teams are mobilising to bring aid to the people on the ground.
This appalling earthquake has added to the harshness of the winter and the humanitarian disaster that already exists.
“The situation is terrifying. The districts are completely devastated. People don’t know what to do or where to go. We hear ambulance sirens incessantly, the cries of people whose homes have been destroyed, and calls for help under the rubble. The medical staff and first-aiders are treating the injured as a matter of urgency, but they are completely overwhelmed.”
Oussama Al-Hussein, coordinator of the Mehad (Ex-UOSSM France) programmes in Syria in Atme, in the Idleb region.
We are appealing for international aid on a massive scale. Hundreds of people are dead in Syria, thousands are injured, many are under rubble or missing, and tens of thousands will be left destitute.
Our emergency response:
- With 350 euros: Shelter for a family of 4. Provision of tents, heating equipment, blankets and a food basket for a week.
- With 200 euros: Renewal of our mobile clinics for earthquake survivors. One day of consultations in our mobile clinics, which criss-cross the Idleb region, the hardest hit by the earthquake.
