London, 6February 2023 – Action Against Hunger’s emergency team is mobilising to respond to today’s earthquakes on the border of Turkey and Syria. The first of the earthquakes occurred at dawn, with a magnitude of 7.8 degrees on the Richter scale in southeastern Turkey and northern Syria. The second of the earthquakes has taken place in the centre of the country with a magnitude of 7.5 degrees.
There are already thousands of people killed and affected. After an initial assessment, the Action Against Hunger team that carries out its humanitarian work in Syria is safe.
The first emergency team deployed by Action Against Hunger is already travelling to the affected areas. This unit is composed of an emergency coordinator, a logistician, a water, sanitation and hygiene coordinator, and a health and nutrition coordinator. The team will be supplying water, hygiene products, food, in addition to materials for shelter.
Action Against Hunger staff in Syria will also be mobilised in the coming hours to review the needs of the population and carry out emergency support there.
Action Against Hunger has been working in Syria since 2008. In 2021, our teams reached more than one million people in Syrian communities affected by multiple crises. They did this through water, sanitation, hygiene, health, nutrition, food, security and livelihood support programmes – this not only helps the population respond to emergencies, but also gives them the support to survive and thrive long into the future.
Notes to editors:
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- Photo credit: © Elif Aysenur Bay / IHA Agency
- Action Against Hunger is the world’s leading charity stopping life-threatening hunger in its tracks. By training parents and healthcare workers to spot the signs, we get life-saving care to people who need it. Action Against Hunger’s research drives forward understanding of how to predict, prevent and treat life-threatening hunger. With unbeatable knowledge and unstoppable determination, the charity supported more than 26 million people across 51 countries in 2021.
- For more information, please visit Action Against Hunger UK’s website or follow Action Against Hunger UK on Twitter and Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.