QRCS works overtime to coordinate rescue and relief work in Turkey, Syria
Over the last several weeks, Qatar has been doing everything in its power to alleviate people’s hardships in the quake-affected regions of Turkey and Syria.
And the Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) has been playing an important role on ground zero, coordinating rescue operations as well as effective movement and disbursal of aid.
Dr Mohamed Salah Ibrahim, QRCS’s Director of Relief and International Development Division, met with Turkish Red Crescent President Dr Kerem Kinik at Gaziantep on Wednesday to discuss urgent requirements of earthquake survivors and contributions by the two entities to the ongoing humanitarian crisis.
د. محمد صلاح إبراهيم مدير قطاع الإغاثة والتنمية الدولية في @QRCS يلتقي د. كريم كينيك رئيس@Kizilay في مقره بمدينة غازي عنتاب التركية، للتباحث حول الاحتياجات العاجلة للمتضررين من #زلزال_سوريا_وتركيا ، ومساهمات #الهلال_الأحمر_القطري والتركي للاستجابة الإنسانية الجارية pic.twitter.com/FLbJ5Jc9FG
— الهلال الأحمر القطري (@QRCS) February 15, 2023
Mazin Abdullah Salloom, who heads the QRCS’s representation mission in Turkey, and Turkish Red Crescent’s Gaziantep Chapter Director Fatih Gokhan also attended the meeting.
In addition to allocating $2 million for emergency response, QRCS has also sent a medical delegation from Doha, consisting of physicians and nurses in several specialities including general surgery and trauma, vascular surgery, operating nurses, psychiatric consultant, emergency medicine specialist, hand surgeon consultant, pediatric cardiologist, and anesthesiologists.
A second medical delegation, consisting of 13 volunteer doctors, later joined the initial eight-member doctor team and is currently performing major surgeries at hospitals in northern Syria. They are also conducting informative training sessions for the medical personnel working there.
On Wednesday morning, two more doctors left to join the health team in the disaster zone.
Meanwhile, four mobile medical clinics, specialising in internal medicine, paediatrics, mental health, and nutrition, have been providing health, psychological and nutritional services across northwestern Syria.
Elsewhere, QRCS’s field personnel are providing relief for affected people in northwest Syria in the form of shelter, food supply, and nonfood items.
Work is underway to construct a new residential village in northern Syria, consisting of 300 two-bedroom apartments of 60 square metres each, with all necessary infrastructure including roads, gardens, service facilities, a mosque, a school, a clinic, and shops.
استجابة للعوائل الأكثر تضرراً من الزلزال، يقوم #الهلال_الأحمر_القطري بالتحضير لبناء قرية سكنية جديدة في الشمال السوري، تتكون من 300 شقة مبنية بالخرسانة المسلحة.
— الهلال الأحمر القطري (@QRCS) February 15, 2023
للتبرع الإلكتروني : https://t.co/AukQo8fNh3#زلزال_ترکیا_وسوريا #زلزال_سوريا_تركيا pic.twitter.com/LkKWK4a25I
The new residential units are expected to protect the privacy, security, and dignity of displaced families whose homes were damaged in Jindires and Harem, Idlib Governorate.
Airlift shipments continued to be deployed from Qatar to Gaziantep Airport in Turkey, and subsequently into Syria. Seven trucks loaded with various aid packets arrived recently. Included in it are four shipments of medical equipment and consumables.
More field personnel are also being deployed to the disaster zone to help with relief operations, setting up tents and distributing aid to earthquake survivors.
The QRCS had sprung into action in the immediate aftermath of the deadly quakes by allocating $1 million towards initial relief operations.
Some of their personnel, involved in rescue operations, had also tragically lost their lives while on duty.
In a wonderful gesture, Qatari and expatriate citizens had banded together to collect more than QR168 million as aid in a single day. HH The Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani personally contributed QR50 million towards the Aoun Wa Sanad earthquake relief campaign.
Earlier, Qatar had allocated 10,000 mobile homes for use by those affected by the earthquake.
Sheikh Tamim, who recently visited Turkey, met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, before offering all help.
Qatar Museums announced a new campaign — Be Their Hope — to encourage its staff, visitors and sponsors to donate items to help the earthquake survivors.
If you are keen to donate to the rescue operations, you can make your donations here.
