After two major earthquakes of magnitude 7.8 and 7.6 on February 6, Doctors of the World (DDD) continues its support to provide long-term and sustainable humanitarian aid to people affected by earthquakes in Hatay and Syria on the 12th day of the earthquake.
Destructive earthquakes in Central Southeast Turkey and near the Syrian border have killed thousands of people. Doctors of the World acted quickly to determine the needs in the earthquake areas and continued their work since the first moment of the earthquake. Providing first aid and medical aid to the people affected by the two earthquakes of 7.8 and 7.6 magnitude, which is headquartered in Kahramanmaraş in Turkey and heavily affected the Aleppo and Idlib regions of North West Syria, World Doctors received the support of their regional partners. Inigo Pharma donated drugs to their work in the disaster area within 24 hours and supported the race against time with Project HOPE and SAMU search and rescue teams.
World Doctors President Hakan Bilgin said, “After the devastating earthquakes that hit Turkey and Syria on the morning of February 6, World Doctors continues their activities in the field with field tents. Since the first moment of the disaster, containers to be used as a safe area for earthquake victims and our teams have started to reach Hatay. Distribution of first aid, medicines, blankets and kits continues through our healthcare workers. Our psychologists work in the area for psychological first aid for post-disaster trauma. In addition, we provide emergency medical intervention through our 5 clinics in Idlib. In addition, we responded to the call of the hospitals that served the people who survived and were injured from the rubble by donating medicines to the Idlib Health Directorate. Many buildings and shelters have been destroyed in the country, already inadequate health facilities and hospitals have become unusable, and many of the health personnel are victims, along with their families. As Doctors of the World, we will be recruiting for the Afrin region of Syria to fill the human resource gap created within the scope of the earthquake emergency response project.”
“We Created a Temporary Mobile Health Team of Midwives and Pharmacists”
Stating that World Doctors continues to work to provide long-term and sustainable humanitarian aid to people affected by earthquakes with containers to be used as primary health care centers and sanitation areas, Hakan Bilgin said, “Our doctors, midwives, nurses and psychologists; While providing primary health care services, a pharmacy also provides medicines to the population affected by the disaster.” Bilgin said, “We have a coordination office in Antakya where we carry out our operations in Syria, and we also have clinics in Syria. One of our clinics near the Turkish border was partially destroyed due to the earthquake. Our clinic there cannot operate at the moment. We are working to clear the debris as soon as possible to ensure access to the clinic and continue our services.” Stating that 4 of his colleagues lost their lives as a result of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, Bilgin said, “Unfortunately, our hopeful wait did not turn out to be positive and our Syria Program Coordinator Dr. Mohamad Shahin and his family lost their lives in Hatay. We lost our dear colleagues, our clinic guard Ziad Salim, midwife Zahia Elomer and our laboratory technician Osama Elabod, in the earthquake that destroyed the Syrian town of Afrin,” Bilgin said. already in the region He added that he created a temporary mobile health team consisting of doctors, nurses, midwives and pharmacists who visited neighborhoods and newly established camps to provide emergency response to those affected by the earthquake.
Source: (BYZHA) – Beyaz News Agency
