The following is excerpted from the Church Newsroom. To read the full article, CLICK HERE. 

Humanitarian efforts of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Türkiye and Syria continue to be provided five months after the February 6, 2023, earthquakes struck both countries. These efforts and are now being expanded in Türkiye with the launch of new projects. The efforts of the Church continue to coordinate this labor with the Turkish authorities through AFAD, Türkiye’s governmental disaster management agency.

The Europe Central Area’s Welfare and Self-Reliance Manager, Christian Ottiker, underlines that “in the wake of the devastating earthquakes that struck Türkiye and Syria in February 2023, we stand resolute in our commitment to alleviate suffering, maintain human dignity, and instill hope to all those affected. In coordination with the government and the help of many other relief organizations, we embrace the responsibility to provide aid to the shattered communities. Under the direction of the Europe Central Area Presidency of the Church, we remain dedicated in standing alongside with the people of Türkiye, offering a helping hand on the path to healing and restoration.”

One of the new projects consists in distributing bottled water to the populations affected by the earthquakes. With the infrastructures destroyed and the high temperatures typical of the summer, this is a much-needed relief. A total of five million bottles of 1.5 liters will be distributed over two months. The first of six daily trucks were loaded with 16,800 water bottles on June 19, 2023, in the city of Malatya, where there is a natural spring water source. These trucks will deliver the bottled water to different warehouses of AFAD in four cities that are in the main affected areas – Adiyaman, Hatay, Kahramanmaras and Malatya. From there the water is then distributed to the camps where thousands of families are currently living.

A new project to distribute an additional 100,000 food boxes and 200,000 hygiene kits was also started in the month of June. It will follow the same pattern of distribution to the impacted areas through the local facilities of AFAD in impacted area. The first truck, loaded with 2,184 food boxes departed in the first week of July. Trucks that carry hygiene kits can be loaded up to 3,000 units each.

To read the full article, CLICK HERE.