By Amber Cakar | Grants and Partnerships Manager
7,200 Dead, 34,810 Wounded, 8,000 Rescued as Thousands of Personnel Deploy to Devastated Southern Türkiye and Northern Syria in Height of Earthquake Search and Rescue
At least 7,200 people have been reported dead in the aftermath of two devastating earthquakes that rocked Southern Türkiye and Northern Syria two days ago. Search and rescue teams have been mobilized and the Government of Türkiye declared a state of emergency for the 10 most affected provinces which will last 3 months. Schools and many businesses are closed across the country to accommodate thousands of survivors left homeless and freezing, with Tuesday night reaching -4C and snow in some areas.
As of Tuesday night, Türkiye reported the hardest hit areas of Hatay with 1,647 dead and 6,200 injured; Kahramanmaras with 1,343 dead and 5,000 injured; Adiyaman with 896 dead and 400 injured; Kilis with 22 dead and 518 injured; Gaziantep with 504 dead and 4,809 injured; Osmaniye with 502 dead and 2,173 injured; Malatya with 201 dead and 4,900 injured; Adana with 167 dead and 3,992 injured; Sanliurfa with 127 dead and 2,551 injured; Diyarbakir with 120 dead and 854 injured; and Elazig with 5 dead and 379 injured. The total number dead in North Syria is near 2,000 with hundreds of thousands more injured. Nearly 6,000 buildings in the area have collapsed where millions of people call home.
Türkiye also reports over 16,000 rescue personnel in the field and over 8,000 people rescued as part of these efforts. Going into the 3rd day, the next 24 hours are crucial, as the survivor rate falls significantly after 72-hours. WHO reports that the death toll is likely to surpass 20,000 people in the coming days.
International Blue Crescent Relief and Development Foundation (IBC), with multiple offices and project sites already existing in the area, continues to ramp up relief efforts. Aftershocks of up to 6-magnitude continue to destabilize and complicate rescue and relief efforts in the affected areas, exasperating war-torn Northern Syria and Southern Türkiye, host to a few million refugees from neighboring countries. With the devastating damage to roads, transport, and infrastructure, IBC has received hundreds of families in its Kilis Community Center for shelter, warm items, and hot meals since the first hours Monday morning.
IBC Kilis Community Center continues to serve as a major hub for coordination and relief efforts, including for cross-border response into Syria. Additionally, IBC is taking the following actions:
• Daily hot meal distribution in Kilis
• Establishing hot meal and food parcel distribution center in Hatay
• Deliver 4,000 thermal blankets to Gaziantep
• Provide wheat flour to Sanliurfa Municipality Halk Ekmek and distribute bread free of charge
• Establishing a shelter center of 200 prefabricated components in Hatay and Kahramanmaras and undertake all needs
• Support municipality in Sanliurfa for shelter housing 9,000 people; deliver baby food and diapers, sandwiches, blankets
IBC Activities to be intensified by the end of the week:
• Distribution of hot meals to 2,000 people each in Hatay and Kilis for minimum 1 mo.
• Delivery of 200,000 ready-to-eat food at least to Gaziantep and Kahramanmaras this month
• Complete the construction of prefabricated temporary shelters in Kahramanmaras and Hatay in a month
• Running those camps for at least six months, covering all needs
• Provide 20,000 blankets, 20,000 food kits, and 20,000 hygiene kits this month to four cities: Sanliurfa, Kahramanmaras, Hatay, and Gaziantep/Kilis
• Transfer in-kind donations to North Syria mainly
• Provide 2,000 first aid kits to the health units we are running in Al-Bab, A’zaz, and Dabiq in North Syria and support all medical needs
Urgent Needs in General:
-Tens of thousands of tents
-Heaters for the tents
-Basic first aid kits
-Tens of thousands of blankets
-Thermal clothing
-Ready to Eat Food for at least to 5000 people
Currently, IBC has started coordinating bulk or large in-kind items from international companies, individuals, and partner NGOs- depending on the quantity and needs in the field/specific location and transportation access. IBC also coordinates with Türkiye’s Disaster Risk Authority AFAD, and partner NGOs in the field, attending daily coordination meetings.
IBC has mobilized its entire capacity in the region and two emergency response coordination centers have been established in Kilis and Gaziantep to coordinate all regional operations.
We ask our partners and international civil society members to help us in these tragic days so that together we may overcome the suffering of our people.
Thank you for all the support so far, we couldn't do it without you.
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