Help Earthquake Victims in Turkey

International Emergency Relief
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Relief Distributions Continue

  • Now over six months after the tragedy, Samaritan’s Purse is still helping the many families living in tents. We are working through local partners to clean and maintain the 120 mobile hygiene containers, each complete with three showers, three toilets, and sinks, which we installed earlier in the year. Through these partners, we also distributed 21,000 items including refrigerators, fans, and shade kits to help relieve discomfort from the extreme heat, and constructed 220 furnished living containers to provide more permanent housing for displaced families.
  • Our medical team treated more than 8,000 patients from the opening of the Emergency Field Hospital on Feb. 13 through March 31. We thank God for His favor during this time! The Turkish Ministry of Health assumed responsibility for the facility April 1.
  • Samaritan's Purse President Franklin Graham, along with his son, Edward, visited our Emergency Field Hospital on Feb. 18 to encourage patients and our Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) members.
  • The Turkish government reports that roughly 2 million people have fled the earthquake-devastated region. Another 3.5 million remain and are living in temporary accommodations such as tents or cars. Samaritan’s Purse has provided emergency shelter to 7,000 such households in cooperation with partners.
  • We officially opened our Emergency Field Hospital in Antakya, Turkey, on Feb. 13 and received dozens of patients over the first few hours. Hundreds of people have already been seen.
  • About 100 Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) members are on the ground providing medical care and other relief.
  • Many tens of thousands are injured. The death toll exceeds 50,000 people.

Samaritan's Purse established a 52-bed Emergency Field Hospital in Turkey, accepting dozens of patients within hours of opening Feb. 13. The mobile hospital included two emergency operating rooms, four intensive care unit beds, and a pharmacy.

We’ve also distributed thousands of tents as well as mattresses, solar lanterns, and hygiene kits (including soap, shampoo, toothpaste, toilet paper, and more) in partnership with First Hope Association. Through these local Christian partners, teams have also distributed 10,000 dignity kits containing feminine hygiene supplies and 10,000 maternity kits with resources for infants. In addition, these partners helped us distribute food to some 40,000 households.

More than 50,000 people were killed and tens of thousands are injured in Turkey and Syria as homes and other buildings were toppled by massive earthquakes on Feb. 6.

Thousands of the injured have been brought to our field hospital, including Sare*, who injured her leg while jumping out of a window during the earthquake, and Mustafa* who was pulled from the rubble after eight days of being trapped without food or water.

Samaritan's Purse airlifted the mobile hospital and dozens of medical personnel to Turkey on Feb. 9 to address the urgent physical needs of families suffering in the wake of this natural disaster. Hospital components were then transported to Antakya in southern Turkey, historically known as Antioch. In this area, believers were first called Christians.

We need your prayers. Pray for the people of Turkey and pray that Samaritan’s Purse and our team will be able to love them and care for them. Pray that they’ll know there’s a God in Heaven who loves them as well. —Franklin Graham

*Name changed for security reasons.

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Photos

Samaritan’s Purse is distributing hygiene kits, food boxes, and solar lights to earthquake survivors. We are also distributing mattresses to families who have lost so much due to the tremors. Samaritan’s Purse is working to distribute 7,000 tents to the people of Turkey who are currently living in cars and other temporary locations. In this, our second airlift since the beginning of the response, we transported more than 18 tons of relief to Turkey Feb. 19, including medical supplies, pharmaceuticals, and more than 200 tents for temporary shelter for the displaced. More than 500 patients were treated at the field hospital within the first week. Our medical team and translators took the opportunity to brighten a young patient's day with the gift of a doll. Earthquake-devastated cities are in ruins, with many buildings continuing to crumble even as new seismic activity shakes communities. Our medical team helped earthquake survivor Mehmet who was trapped in the rubble for more than a week. Delayed treatment of injuries led to infection and other complications. Teams worked from dusk to dawn to make the hospital ready for patients. The hospital was constructed to include triage, emergency room, wards, two operating rooms, and pharmacy. Our staff worked through the night set up tents, assembling medical equipment, and connecting heating, air, and electricity to get the hospital up and running.

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Please pray for God's protection and for His mercy and peace as families mourn untold losses and await news of missing loved ones. Pray for our teams as we meet critical needs that we would also be able to share the hope found only in our Lord Jesus Christ.

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