Flooding in Turkey and the impact on crisis response

Flooding in Türkiye

In Türkiye, ERDO is partnering with First Hope Association, a church-based organization who believes in helping every human being without discrimination. This article comes from the First Hope team responding to the earthquake in Türkiye.

Our efforts to serve the earthquake region continue and we’d like to share a brief update. The work regarding shelters is progressing quickly. At the beginning of last week we had plans for 5,000 shelters, and as of today the number is up to 7,000. We’ve completed the work on 3,000 tents along with the necessary bedding supplies in the Hatay province cities of Belen, Dortyol, Samandag and Defne. The preparations are continuing for more tents in Kirikhan and Reyhanli and within a week or two we should have completed all 7,000.

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Our wash teams are also setting up toilets and mobile hygiene units in the tent cities that we’re establishing. We’ve been serving both individual and community needs for toilets, showers and clothes washing stations for several years now. Because of this experience, we are uniquely positioned to meet this huge need at this point. 80 toilets and 3 mobile units with showers and toilets are being prepared for service. Our wash projects are extremely important and much needed as soon as possible.

Our shelter teams are also working on a possible project for a container village. Work has begun on plans for a 50,000 square meter area that will be able to hold 500 container homes. Discussions with the Ministry of Natural Disasters in Ankara and Hatay have been progressing well this week as we try to identify the right location for this camp. We have experience and a clear understanding of shelter projects, which are the key for millions to get back their normal life.

One of the cities affected by the earthquake, Sanliurfa, was unfortunately struck by a second disaster last week. 16 people were killed by a flood that came through the city center. We sent a team to see what the immediate needs are and how we can help. We began by sending over a shipment of drinking water. The rain and flood warning covered Gaziantep, Kahramanmaras, Adiyaman, Malatya and Sanliurfa. We continue to keep an eye on the needs of the region.

The children’s play tents are our most joyful work. Our team is doing an awesome job of helping kids who have been traumatized by fear of the earthquake to begin the process of returning to a new normal. We take this work very seriously of coming alongside these kids and striving to fill their hearts with hope. The number of play tents in Kahramanmaras and Hatay will be increasing soon. We’re doing what’s needed to host events in and around the places where we’ve established shelter communities.

We continue to turn out about 7,500 loaves of bread and 1,500 buns everyday. Soon enough we will have a similar model in Antakya and Adıyaman. We are hoping to open 5 mobile kitchens which will provide jobs for local people and provide 3 warm meals for at least 5,000 people everyday. The supply distributions in Antakya, Kahramanmaras, and Gaziantep are growing and continuing well. The distribution network is being expanded to the provinces of Adiyaman and Malatya.

In the last 7 days we have distributed:

3,500 packs of food
4,750 Hygiene kits
3,000 pair of underwear
1,250 sets of clothes
500 blankets
1,200 toys
52,500 loaves of bread
10,500 buns
4 semi truck of drinking water (about 100,000 liters)
500 boots/shoes
1000 packs of diapers

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