The death toll of last week's catastrophic earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria exceeded 25,000 people. And the number continues to grow. At the same time, over 5 million people have lost their homes in Syria alone, with hundreds of thousands more in Turkey. Caritas Czech Republic is helping to provide them with immediate humanitarian aid. We spoke to our colleague Anna Volfova, who is coordinating our aid to people affected by the earthquake, about the situation on the ground and how we are helping.
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Is it possible to estimate how many people have been affected by the earthquake in Turkey and Syria?
The World Health Organization estimates that the total number of people affected is about 23 million.
That is a huge number. Are there any differences between the severity of the situation in Turkey and Syria?
The main difference is certainly that in Turkey, despite some problems with the local authorities, aid is flowing intensively to the affected areas. This concerns both rescue and search teams and material aid in the form of food, water, blankets and warm clothes for those who have lost their homes. In short, in Turkey, despite some problems with organisation, people are finding it easier to get help.
Moreover, people in Turkey, whether they are Turks or Syrians living in the affected areas, have the opportunity to move elsewhere. Currently, for example, the city of Mersin, a port city in the south of the country, is becoming one of the centres for people from the affected areas.
Syria has been struggling with civil war for many years. The situation there is therefore undoubtedly much more complex.
Yes, unfortunately. The situation in Syria is much more complicated. The affected territory is not under the control of the Syrian Government, and aid is therefore only flowing through one border crossing with Turkey, which is officially open. And Turkey and Syria are in agreement that it will stay open. But aid only passed through there for the first time on Thursday. Only now are there talks about the possibility of opening other routes for humanitarian aid deliveries.
Until then, the locals have had to rely on what they had available in Syria, which is not much. Our two partner organisations on the ground started to provide assistance almost immediately, but they did not have the heavy equipment needed for rescue operations, for example.
It is certainly a big difference between a developed country like Turkey and a rebel territory in Syria.
What do the people affected by the earthquake need most right now?
Certainly material aid, in terms of food for example, has not been available at all since Monday in some of the affected areas. In the more remote regions, it took a long time for any aid to get there at all, and what did arrive was not even able to cover the needs of such a large number of affected people. Logistics is certainly a problem too, as the earthquake has destroyed many roads.
So people on the ground need basic things like food, baby food, but also water. In the affected region, even in a normal situation, they drink bottled water, and now there is no bottled water. At the same time, it is freezing and snowing in Turkey. People are constantly outside their demolished or damaged houses, but they cannot go inside to get their belongings or even to use the toilet, so emergency shelters, blankets, mattresses, sleeping bags and warm clothes are needed. You can probably imagine what people ran out of the houses at 4am in the morning with and in.
In the affected areas, electricity and communication networks are usually not working at all, so generators are also needed, among other things to generate heat.
Can you estimate how these needs will change in a week or two?
There will be a need to provide some more permanent housing for people in Turkey. They are already moving to other cities that have not been affected. There will certainly be a need for 'cash assistance' - vouchers to buy food and material aid.
How is the money from the Caritas for Turkey and Syria appeal helping those affected by the earthquake?
Caritas Czech Republic has long been working with three partner organisations in both Turkey and Syria. In Syria, for example, our partner organisation Violet is preparing food parcels, hygiene parcels, and also parcels with warm clothes, blankets, tents, sleeping bags, etc.
Immediately after the earthquake, Caritas Czech Republic announced an emergency appeal and together with the above-mentioned partner organisations on the ground started to coordinate aid in Syria and Turkey. The situation was complicated in that, for example, our partner organisation Violet was itself affected in Turkey, but they quickly became active and started to help. Together with them, we once established a large network of volunteers, which they are now using to help effectively.
Thank you for the interview.