The 7.2-magnitude quake that hit Van Province caused extensive damage especially in the town of Erciş. Hundreds of people were killed and thousands were left homeless.
Arriving at the earthquake zone only four hours after occurrence, the IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation teams rescued 11 people alive from under the rubble and provided logistic support to other search-rescue teams. The foundation’s relief teams are visiting villages in the region to distribute food and other materials needed, while a mobile kitchen is providing cooked food to 10,000 people daily.
In addition to search-rescue help and aid distributions, IHH teams are doing their best to alleviate the suffering of the affected people. Local citizens are experiencing difficulties since most of the shops in Erciş remain closed.
IHH volunteers in Tatvan, Bitlis formed a 20-member team to help Erciş residents. The group is offering free-of-charge hairdressing services to earthquake survivors at an IHH tent. The hairdresser volunteers said they wanted to help earthquake survivors and hairdressing was the job they knew best. Volunteer Erkan Aksoy also said they could not remain indifferent while everyone else had mobilized for Erciş residents and decided to offer help in this way instead of contributing to aid collection.
IHH makes condolence visits
IHH is also providing moral support to Van residents who suffered material and non-material damage in the last earthquake. Search-rescue works are about to end and the local people need moral support as much as they need material contribution.
IHH teams in the earthquake zone are making condolence visits to the families that lost members. The teams offered condolence to Göldaş family that lost six members and İlci family that lost five members, one of them still a baby. IHH teams also donated food items to the families. The foundation will make more condolence visits to share the suffering of affected families.
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