REYHANLI, TURKEY — The earthquake was again felt in Southeastern Turkey, this time in Defne, Hatay Province with a magnitude of 6.4. The earthquake can also be felt as far as the Antakya and Adana regions, about 200 kilometres (300 miles) to the north, on Monday evening Turkish time (20/02/2023).
Dompet Dhuafa volunteers consisting of Disaster Management Center (DMC) and Health Emergency Response (RDK) units of Free Health Services (LKC), reported the latest conditions after the aftershocks that occurred.
“The shock was huge, it felt so tight in the building. The earthquake begins with a light outage. After the lights went out, then came the shock of the earthquake,” explained Narwan as the Response-Recovery Manager of DMC Dompet Dhuafa through a short message.
Also read: Dompet Dhuafa Holds Humanity for Turkey and Syria, A Joint Prayer for Brothers in Turkey
People were panicked by the earthquake. In addition, the tremor of the earthquake also caused a cloud of dust from the rubble of the ruined city to soar into the sky.
“Alhamdulillah, we volunteers who were assigned survived all even though one person was injured due to jumping from a 3-meter-high window,” said Fadlil Dedi, a Dompet Dhuafa Journalist reporting from the field.
The walls of the building, which had been severely damaged, have now collapsed due to the earthquake. Later, some people, who seemed to be injured, also called for help. Based on visual monitoring at 13:00 Indonesian time, the Reyhanli area, where the Dompet Dhuafa volunteer team stands, has yet to see the damage caused by the earthquake. It can be seen that refugees have begun to re-enter their homes to pick up emergency supplies and rush to refugee camps.
Also read: Dompet Dhuafa Distributes 100 Food Packages in Turkey-Syria Earthquake-Affected Areas
“Refugees are displaced in the open field. Some returned to their homes to pick up some necessities. Visually haven’t seen any damage,” Narwan continued.
However, to expand the monitoring of the Dompet Dhuafa team, the team has and will continue to monitor with patrols around the earthquake shock area to see the latest conditions.
“Last night we patrolled and then at this time we will also patrol to see the condition of Reyhanli. If there is damage or handling, we will help,” concluded Dedi in a short message.
Also read: Echoing Solidarity for Turkey and Syria, Dompet Dhuafa Holds Walk for Humanity
In the future, the Dompet Dhuafa team will continue to intensify the actions of health services members of the Emergency Medical Team (EMT) Indonesia. The Dompet Dhuafa team and EMT Indonesia held medical service assistance at the hospital. The Indonesian EMT field is in Adicli, Hassa District, Hatay Province. More or fewer survivors suffer from a colic renal, heart attack, tumour basalioma, dyspepsia, and vertigo.
“In addition, the team coordinates with residents and nutritionists from EMT Indonesia for the nutritional intake of inpatients. The Dompet Dhuafa team is on duty in the inpatient department and resuscitation room,” explained dr. Zainab Aqila as the RDK LKC Dompet Dhuafa team reporting from the location.
In addition, the Public Kitchen will also reopen with a target of 10,000 servings. Previously, Dompet Dhuafa had intensified the Public Kitchen service but stopped due to constraints on the availability of food supply.
“Supplies of ingredients are hard to come by, so we first stop at the soup kitchen. Tomorrow, Insyallah, a Public Kitchen will be held again with a target of 10,000 servings,” continued Narwan.
According to Aljazeera, more than 47,000 people died due to the earthquake that hit the Turkish-Syrian region. In Turkey, there were 41,156 deaths, while Syria had 6,000 deaths. It is also estimated that 385,000 apartments were destroyed. People need emergency assistance in the form of instant warmers and blankets to survive the cold weather.
My Friend Dompet Dhuafa, a Turkish-Syrian earthquake survivor, still needs a helping hand of kindness. Let’s rally the ranks and strengthen solidarity in helping our brothers and sisters in Turkey-Syria. Good friends can send help and prayers through the following page https://digital.dompetdhuafa.org/donasi/gempaturki. (DMC Dompet Dhuafa)