Thank you for opening your heart to children, women and men suffering in the aftermath of the earthquakes in Türkiye (Turkey).
Because of kind and generous people like you, families who lost their homes in the quakes are getting safe, longer-term housing.
Right now, the team is working with local partners to build a prefabricated container housing community in Kirikhan, a district in Türkiye extremely hard hit by the quakes. The community will consist of prefabricated containers that will be able to house up to six people and include two rooms, a bathroom with a flushing toilet and a kitchen.
Thanks to you, families will be able to move into these structures within weeks and be able to live there for up to three years. You are also supplying the entire community — up to 500 families — with emergency personal hygiene packages and monthly food packages. The hygiene packages include essentials like soap, shampoo, toothbrushes and toothpaste, toilet paper, feminine hygiene products and dish and laundry soap. The food packages include cooking oil, rice, lentils, chickpeas, pasta, tea, sugar, salt, soup and tomato paste.
Each container home will provide crucial safety and privacy to vulnerable women and children. There will also be areas for children to play soccer and basketball.
The container city will first focus on constructing staff housing and a community center where hot meals will be distributed to residents.
It is being constructed on a hillside above the city of Kirikhan, one of the hardest hit communities.
This area is home to many Syrian refugees as well who have already had to flee their homes at least once because of danger.
'God bless you all'
For neighbors like Onur and Feride Aaikgöz and their children — whose home in Kirikhan collapsed on February 6 — aid and care couldn’t come soon enough.
Feride asked us to tell you, “God bless you all … and everyone who thinks of us, those who aim to help us, support us from outside.”
The family has been living in a 10-by-10 tent in a camp outside their city since Feb. 6. Feride recalled that terrible day. “It was like the apocalypse. The shouting, screams, buildings collapsed, the children were covered in blood. We didn't know what to do.”
After the family evacuated the house safely, Onur went back in for the family cat, Duman, who was luckily unharmed. The cat now stays with the family in their tent.
They’re thankful for their temporary home and do what they can every day to help other families like theirs. Even their 5-year-old son volunteers in the makeshift community.
And they dream of the day they’ll have a more permanent home for their family.
Feride and Onur Aaikgöz with their 5-year-old son Onur Asaf and 12-year-old daughter Azra and their cat, Duman, in the family's tent in Kirikhan, Turkey.
Because of you, there is hope
Compassionate Lutherans like you made it possible for this critical work to get underway right away. Because of your generosity, urgently needed items are also reaching survivors.
You are delivering necessities including tents, tarps, winter clothing and solar lights. An initial shipment arrived in Türkiye on February 20. We are also coordinating with partners to distribute ready-to-eat food and hot meals, sleeping bags, sleeping mats and winter clothing and working to ship LWR Quilts, Baby Care Kits and Personal Care Kits.
We have deployed members of our Humanitarian Action team to Türkiye to support response operations, and are coordinating with local organizations, UN agencies and other international humanitarian organizations to ensure aid is delivered effectively, without duplication, and meeting most urgent needs.
We are grateful for the thousands of Lutherans across the United States whose care and generosity have made it possible for us to respond immediately. At this time, financial gifts are the number one need to assist families affected by the earthquakes.
Thank you for sharing God’s love when it’s needed most. We are able to respond — because of you.
Currently a tent city sits at the bottom of the hill where hundreds of families are gathered in tiny tents.
READ MORE
You can stay up to date on our response.
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[Updates] Our response
We are bringing decades of experience responding to humanitarian crises to care for the children, women and men devastated by the quakes.
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[Video] From the field
Lutheran World Relief Senior Director for Humanitarian Operations, Fred McCray, shares the urgent needs. “It’s going to take years to rebuild this city and rebuild people’s lives."
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[Donate] You can deliver care to neighbors in crisis
Your gift today will reach families in desperate need around the world.