Doha, Qatar: A Qatar Emiri Air Force (QEAF) aircraft arrived at Gaziantep Airport, Turkey, loaded with a humanitarian aid shipment from the State of Qatar for the benefit of the victims of Turkey-Syria earthquake, in cooperation between Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) and Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD).
It is part of the airlift ordered by His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of Qatar, from Qatar to Turkey in solidarity with the victims of the disaster.
The relief shipment consists of 35 tons of aid, including blankets, jerrycans, mosquito nets, tarpaulins, shelter maintenance kits, and family hygiene kits. In coordination with Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD), the relief materials are being prepared for distribution to affected people in northern Syria.
QRCS allocated $1 million from its Disaster Response Fund to start emergency relief interventions for the benefit of earthquake-affected people in Turkey and northern Syria. A $10 million fundraising humanitarian campaign was also launched to expand the relief intervention in health care, shelter, water and sanitation, and food. Everyone is invited to give to charity, in support of the victims of the earthquake.
QRCS’s representation mission in Turkey deployed four mobile clinics in Idlib, Al-Dana, western Aleppo countryside, and Jisr Al-Shughur, to provide emergency medical services (EMS) and psychological support for affected people at temporary shelters. The mission’s field personnel are already contributing to search and rescue operations in Syria.
QRCS is planning to deploy specialist medical professionals from Doha to northern Syria, in order to provide EMS to the victims and support hospitals and health centers in the specialties of general surgery, emergency medicine, orthopedics, pediatrics, ophthalmology, anesthesia, and mental health.
In northwestern Syria, thousands were displaced from the earthquake-affected cities, to settle temporarily at the camps of internally displaced people (IDPs), putting even more pressure on the already struggling communities, especially amid the cold winter. Some families resorted to stadiums and agricultural lands, lacking electricity, heating, food, and other supplies.
The current needs are critical, including heavy machinery, trained rescue teams, cash aid, tents, insulation sheets, heating materials, food and bread, water tankers, garbage collection, rubble removal, ambulance vehicles, medicines, makeshift medical facilities, fuel for hospitals and health centers, rented buses for transportation, IDP reception hubs, and safe places for women and girls.
Source: Qatar Red Crescent Society