The destructive earthquake on 6 February has plunged people on the Turkish-Syrian border into even greater hardship. The situation is particularly precarious in Syria, which, after almost twelve years of conflict, is in an ongoing humanitarian crisis. HEKS/EPER’s response was swift. Just hours after the earthquake, local partner organisations organised accommodation and emergency help for thousands of families. HEKS/EPER will also support the population in the longer term with the reconstruction of infrastructure and the economy.
Sanctions and a lack of reconstruction assistance have weakened northern Syria. The economy is in tatters, the power supply is insufficient, the infrastructure is in a wretched state, and many buildings were and are in danger of collapsing. Diseases such as cholera are spreading and many people are starving. The earthquake on 6 February has therefore hit the region all the harder. About five million people have lost their homes and are defenceless and at the mercy of the winter cold.
HEKS/EPER set its first emergency help measures in motion just hours after the earthquake in northern Syria. The Armenian Evangelical Church and the Compassion Protestant Society (CPS), with which HEKS/EPER has cooperated in northern Syria for years, have opened churches and schools to families. Every day around 1,200 people, who have lost their homes due to the earthquake or are not able to go back to their damaged houses for safety reasons, find protection there and are provided with food, hygiene products and medical help.