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Recovery Operations Underway in Quake-Ravaged Turkey, Algeria
Written by
Mason Booth
, Staff Writer, RedCross.org
Wednesday, May 28, 2003 — Within a span of just three weeks, two powerful earthquakes rocked Turkey and Algeria in May, killing more than 2,100 people and leaving thousands of homes in ruin. As affected residents begin picking up the pieces, the American Red Cross is working with its global partners to provide humanitarian relief in the aftermath of the disasters.
The American Red Cross has donated food and 14,500 kitchen sets from its pre-positioned stocks for the humanitarian response in Turkey.
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On the morning of May 1, a 6.4-magnitude quake struck the Bingol province of southeastern Turkey, destroying dozens of homes and damaging an estimated 2,575 others. At least 176 people were killed, including 84 children who lost their lives after a Celtiksuyu boarding school dormitory collapsed.
Initial assessments show that one of the worst affected villages is Cimenli, where lives, homes and livestock were lost in a matter of seconds.
“We have no future. We have lost our husbands,” Remziye Balik, a Cimenli resident, told representatives from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Society (Federation). The 25-year-old woman lost four family members during the quake, including her own husband. “We survived the disaster but now I am a young widow. I see no future.”
The Turkish Red Crescent Society (TRCS) was one of the first responders to the disaster and provided immediate relief to more than 2,000 affected residents within the first few hours of the quake. Since that time the TRCS has provided more than 18,000 blankets, nine mobile kitchens capable of serving 20,000 people a day, a field hospital with 50 beds and a mobile clinic, four ambulances and five generators to combat widespread power outages.
The TRCS also has distributed nearly 13,000 tents, hundreds of which were provided by the American Red Cross. The American Red Cross, which has been supporting the response capacity of the Turkish Red Crescent Society since the devastating 1999 and 2002 earthquakes, has also donated food and 14,500 kitchen sets from its pre-positioned stocks in the region.
The American Red Cross is also providing disaster response technical assistance and program development assistance to the TRCS. The American Red Cross delegation staff will support all distribution activities by the TRCS using materials and tools developed in support of TRCS relief distributions following the Afyon, Turkey earthquake in February 2002.
Algeria Quake Causes Widespread Devastation
Even as the humanitarian operation in Turkey gained momentum, another large-scale disaster struck on May 21 in Algeria. The biggest quake to shake Northern African since 1980, the 6.7-magnitude temblor killed at least 2,000 people and injured over 8,500 others.
“It is not true. It is not true,” an anguished and unbelieving Ben Salem repeated to Federation personnel. A resident of the Boumerdes, Salem was away on a Paris business trip when the quake hit. He returned to find that his wife, two children and mother were lost under the rubble where his home once stood. “Maybe they weren’t at home during the earthquake. I’m sure they will be back. They have never left me alone before.”
Rescue teams search collapsed buildings in Boumerdes, one of the districts most severely affected by the earthquake.
Courtesy of the IFRC.
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The district of Boumerdes, Algiers, Rwaba city and Abu Mardas were the hardest hit areas, according to preliminary damage assessments.
In the immediate wake of the disaster, the Algerian Red Crescent Society (ARCS) rushed search and rescue volunteers to the quake-ravaged regions to search for survivors and distribute food, water and other immediate relief items.
As the search phase ends, the ARCS is assisting the thousands of residents left without homes by erecting 600 tents to accommodate 6,000 people throughout 11 affected areas.
”We will be providing shelter, blankets, food, psychological support and environmental hygiene in order to prevent the outbreak of disease,” said Abdelkader Boukhroufa, President of the ARCS. “If needed, 2,000 volunteers will be mobilized to run the future camps.”
Volunteers are working round-the-clock, despite continued aftershocks. On Tuesday (May 27), another 5.8-magnitude quake rocked the disaster zone, killing at least 3 people.
Support for the relief and recovery operation has come from the ARCS’ international partners. Less than 24 hours after the disaster struck, the Federation launched an appeal for $1,512,000 to meet the immediate disaster needs, such as food, shelter and counseling, for up to 20,000 affected residents over the next three months.
The American Red Cross is supporting the relief operation by supplying 10,000 hygiene parcels, consisting of such items as toilet paper, soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste, and is closely monitoring operational developments. American Red Cross IRT members are on alert in case additional field personnel are needed.
As the aftermath continues to unfold, however, your assistance is needed. You can help victims of these disasters and countless others around the world each year by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross International Response Fund, which will provide immediate relief and long-term support through supplies, technical assistance and other support to help those in need. Click here to make a secure online donation.
All American Red Cross disaster assistance is free, made possible by voluntary donations of time and money from the American people. The Red Cross also supplies nearly half of the nation's lifesaving blood. This, too, is made possible by generous voluntary donations. You can help the victims of thousands of disasters across the country each year by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, which enables the Red Cross to provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to those in need. You can make a secure online credit card donation or call 1-800-REDCROSS (1-800-733-2767) or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish). Or you may send your donation to your local Red Cross or to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013. To donate blood, please call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE (1-800-448-3543), or contact your local Red Cross to find out about upcoming blood drives.
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