Support for Turkey and Syria
The New Zealand, Fiji Tonga and Samoa Territory recently donated US$20,000 to help support victims of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. The funds will help provide emergency cash, food support and WASH (hygiene products) assistance for affected families.
This contribution is in partnership with The Salvation Army The Netherlands, Czech Republic and Slovakia Territory, who partner with ZOA, a Dutch organisation that provides relief work worldwide, including in Turkey and Syria.
The support will mainly go towards families affected by the earthquake in northwestern Syria, Aleppo and Lattakia. This region has been selected due to a climate crisis. Drought conditions have caused water shortages, and the earthquake damage has only made this situation worse.
Northern Syria has been the most impacted by the earthquake. The socio-economic crisis that exists in the republic means many people are relying on aid for relief for basic needs, and many are food insecure. The severe damage from the earthquakes means many people are living in even worse situations, with 20,000 families displaced.
Aftershocks continue, so many families are too afraid to go into buildings including their homes and are sleeping on the streets in rough winter weather.
Support will first be to provide multi-purpose emergency cash to affected families to spend on their greatest needs. This is to ensure different needs are met as this varies depending on people’s location, age and situation. Households who qualify will receive around NZ$160 a month.
Secondly, there will be a distribution of food parcels (both ready to eat and general) for communities. There will also be a focus on WASH activities in providing hygiene kits, and watertrucking to provide emergency water.
This relief work will continue to be undertaken in the long term to provide practical and emotional support to people in Turkey and Syria as they begin to clean up and rebuild.
If you would like to donate, please do so directly to Christian World Service NZ using their website cws.org.nz or send to Territorial Headquarters (THQ) marked Turkey/Syria earthquake.
