We are extremely sad after one of the most devastating earthquake disasters in Türkiye.
Two powerful earthquakes and dozens of aftershocks on Monday collapsed thousands of buildings. The death toll is increasing rapidly and is expected to go beyond 10,000s of people. The initial earthquake hit 4 am in the morning with a 7.7 magnitude, the second one with a 7.6 magnitude occurred 9 hours later. The earthquakes took place close to the surface and lasted for a long time and affected a very wide area including 10 city centers along with various towns and villages in the Southeast.
On top of the earthquake, people also deal with extreme winter conditions and lack of proper clothing, food or shelter. Kahramanmaraş, also known as Maraş, was the center of both earthquakes. Elbistan, Hatay, İskenderun, Malatya, Adıyaman, Antep, Kilis was affected very heavily and hundreds of buildings collapsed in these cities. It is also worth mentioning that these cities and regions host large amount of refugee populatiın who are affected from disaster to a greater extent.
Our members, friends, and partners who are providing rescue and humanitarian aid in affected areas inform us that their urgent need is effective logistics management and coordination of aid efforts from qualified organizations.
Currently, we are compiling a list of organizations that we have confidence in for their expertise, transparency in their financial operations, and commitment to coordinating effective relief efforts.
Here is an initial list of reliable organizations working for rescue and humanitarian operations in the region.
Ahbap Association is one of the most active voluntary networks, providing humanitarian assistance in the affected regions. Visit: https://ahbap.org/disasters-turkey
Support to Life is an independent humanitarian organization, also an active partner of IH Ankara in cooperative support. Their mission is to help disadvantaged communities that are affected by disasters. Visit: https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/we-support-to-life-in-earthquake-zone/
Needs Map, a Turkish social enterprise, in cooperation with a platform of NGOs (Disaster Platform) started a map where you can view actual needs from the region and donate in-kind. The site is in Turkish, you can direct your Turkish counterparts: https://fonzip.com/ihtiyacharitasi/afet-haritasi-deprem-yardim-kampanyasi
AKUT is entirely a voluntary, non-governmental organization and has been at the affected disaster zone from the beginning with 641 volunteers as well as search canines. Visit: www.akut.org.tr/en/donationTurkish
Philanthropy Funds is a foundation serving the Turkish-American community. When disasters strike, TPF delivers funds to its partners on the ground to provide relief and long-term recovery. Visit: https://donate.tpfund.org/campaign/tpf-turkiye-earthquake/c465112
Türkiye Mozaik Foundation aims to financially support civil organizations and help vulnerable groups in the society in the fields of education, health, children rights and environmental sustainability.Visit: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/kahramanmarasearthquake
Please stay in touch for more information and if you are interested in providing support for rebuilding efforts esra@originn.com.tr
– Originn, Impact Hub Ankara, Impact Hub Istanbul
As far as we know all of our ATÖLYE team members and community members are safe but the damage that has been destroyed 10 cities in Turkey is incredibly hard to describe.
Below I share the information page that our team has created and tries to keep up to date as much as possible. This page also includes information regarding reliable and official donation platforms.
Please feel free to share those platforms with fellow ECHN members that would like to support.
Our hearts are heavy and go out to the affected families and loved ones after the devastating earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria today.
Thank you to all who have reached out. All our team members in Turkey are safe; however, many of our team and community members have their loved ones affected.
We know there is not one right thing to do in these situations; but as a team, we want to help those in most need and activate our global community to act. To this end, we have aggregated a list of organizations to which you can donate:
AKUT: Search & Rescue Association
Haytap: Animal Rights Federation
OXFAM: Turkey and Syria Earthquake Appeal
We will step back from our social platforms for the rest of the week to create space for those who need it the most.
We are saddened by the earthquake disaster in our country. Everyone in our team is safe and well but we are all very sorry.
As Aks, we postponed all the activities we planned to do for a while. We are trying to deliver all the support that we can to the earthquake regions.
Unfortunately, we know that the disaster we are facing is huge and all kinds of support are needed from everywhere. For this reason we are sharing reliable platforms where you can donate.
We would like to thank the ECHN family who have been with us since the beginning of the disaster and helped us to announce this. Also we thank all the hubs in this network who will send support.
AFAD
Official disaster and emergency management authority https://en.afad.gov.tr/earthquake-humanitarian-aid-campaign
AHBAP
A local NGO actively supporting people and regions in need https://ahbap.org/disasters-turkey
OXFAM
British-founded confederation of 21 independent charitable organizations. https://www.oxfam.org.uk/oxfam-in-action/current-emergencies/turkey-and-syria-earthquake-appeal/
I am reaching for you to bring to your attention the recent earthquake in Turkey and the urgent need for support and assistance to the affected communities.
On Sunday 6th of February in the early morning hours, there has an earthquake with 7.7 magnitudes happened in southern Turkey affecting 10 cities with more than 13 Million residents in total. While a huge rescue team was helping to overcome this circumstance, 8 hours later another earthquake happened with 7.6 magnitudes. This further aggravated the existing situation. By this time, more than 12.000 deaths were detected, more than 10.000 buildings were demolished, more than 60.000 people were injured and thousands of people had to stay outside last night. Turkish society all over the world is affected directly and indirectly by that disaster. As a result of this situation, which is the most extraordinary event in the history of the country, aid was streamed to the region through national and international channels.
As a social-impact-oriented community-based in Turkey, we care for our society and try to help them as much as we can. We decided to spread the aid worldwide while using our networks and channels. We invite you to help us spread the word and help the people who have been affected/are being affected in Turkey and Syria.
The Republic of Turkey has officially issued an international appeal for help. Your donation will help provide much-needed assistance, including food, shelter, medical care, and other essentials. We are disseminating the contact details of the official local and global organizations, you can access various channels to donate through the links below:
AFAD: AFAD is Turkey’s official disaster emergency management authority. To Donate: https://en.afad.gov.tr/earthquake-humanitarian-aid-campaign
AKUT: AKUT is a non-governmental organization involved in searching, assisting, and rescuing all who require it. To Donate: https://www.akut.org.tr/en/donation
Union of Medical Care and Relief Organisations: Union of Medical Care and Relief Organisations is a humanitarian non-governmental organization that provides health care in rebel-held areas of North West Syria. To Donate: https://www.uossm.org/donate
OXFAM: Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent charitable organizations. To Donate: https://www.oxfam.org.uk/oxfam-in-action/current-emergencies/turkey-and-syria-earthquake-appeal/
