Humanitarian aid organisation Gift of the Givers has confirmed that its medical teams with specialised equipment would be heading to Turkey on Tuesday, following a devastating earthquake in the Middle East.
Monday morning, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9 hit the south of Turkey, as well as northern Syria.
The death toll was already standing at more than 1 000 people on Monday.
It was one of the largest quakes to strike Turkey in a century and wiped out entire sections of major cities in a region filled with millions of people who have fled the civil war in Syria and other conflicts.
It sent tremors as far away as Cyprus, Egypt and Iraq.
Gift of the Givers founder Imtiaz Sooliman said search and rescue teams, as well as medical teams with specialised equipment, would fly to Turkey by today.
Turkish Airlines would facilitate the transport, he added.
body copy_bold: Sooliman said Gift of the Givers staff in Syria and Turkey awoke to a terrifying tremor at 4.10am on Monday.“Our teams rapidly evacuated the children from our Bayt Kareem Child Care Centre in Gaziantep, Turkey, while in Darkoush, Syria, our medical teams were on full alert to respond.”
He said they had seen to hundreds of injured people already.
“The casualties in both countries are expected to increase exponentially.”
Sooliman said that in addition to the general chaos, freezing cold, rain and snow were hampering search and rescue efforts.
He added that Gift of the Givers had been contacted by the Turkish ambassador to South Africa, Aysegul Kandas, and the Consul General in Cape Town, Sinan Yesildag, to assist.
He added that supplies would be purchased in Turkey.
Gift of the Givers are expanding its volunteer medical, search and rescue teams.
Those interested can message either Qasim Bhorat at 084 230 7866 (medical) or Ahmed Bham at 0735716392 (search and rescue).
To assist financially, donate to:
Gift of the Givers
Standard Bank Pietermaritzburg
Account number: 052137228
Branch Code: 057525
Reference: Turkey.