Aid chain for earthquake victims expanding

KAHRAMANMARAŞ

Starting after the two deadly earthquakes that hit southern Türkiye, aid campaigns continue to grow, as many fields from the sports world to the education sector provided significant contributions to the humanitarian aid chain.

Baby food products, all kinds of winter clothing, electric heaters, hygiene materials, powerbanks, blankets, pillows, sleeping bags, kettles, canned and dry food, and disposable kitchen utensils were placed on the list of urgent needs.

Not only the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, but also many district municipalities including Beşiktaş, Sarıyer, Kadıköy, Bakırköy, Maltepe, Fatih and Kartal are accepting aid 24 hours a day.

The Turkish state-owned postal service, PTT, announced that it will send people’s individual aids to the quake-affected province free of charge.

Sports world mobilizes for quake victims

While the aid packages prepared by many sports clubs set out for the 10 provinces hit by the earthquakes, especially Hatay and Kahramanmaraş, athletes, coaches and managers took part in the preparations voluntarily.

Fenerbahçe delivered 11 trucks carrying the collected aid materials to the region, and the packages in the aid center established by Galatasaray in its own stadium were transported to the region with 21 trucks.

Supporters of Izmir’s Göztepe loaded coats, diapers, blankets and food supplies into the five buses that departed from İzmir to the earthquake zone.

Başakşehir became another club that supported charity campaigns.

In addition to the donations collected by their fans, Antalyaspor and Samsunspor, also sent winter clothing products available in their own stores to the quake-affected region.

After delivering aid to the quake zone, Denizlispor’s bus set off to Denizli again to bring the earthquake victims to the city.

Goalkeeper Mert Günok, who came to the aid center at the Beşiktaş stand and supported the work, said, “All people have been mobilized. We saw that many items sold out in the markets, everyone is rushing to help.”

“I ask whoever has the opportunity, whatever they can buy for the people there, whatever they can find, to bring them here and to other helping centers,” Günok noted.

Vocational schools turn barrels into stoves

Teachers, technicians and graduate students of a vocational high school in the northwestern province of Balıkesir started to produce stoves using barrels.

They produced 20 stoves in two days, while it was learned that 100 more stoves will be made at the school by the end of the week and these will be sent to earthquake areas where winter conditions prevail.

In the vocational high schools in the disaster area, their production capacity was mobilized for the earthquake victims.

Schools produce 700,000 loaves of bread, prepare 300,000 provisions, and serve hot meals for 500,000 people.