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Two women hug each other in front of a destroyed building in Kahramanmaras, southern Turkey Alamy Stock Photo

Irish aid organisations seek support for emergency earthquake response in Turkey and Syria

The death toll from the quake has above 11,700 this afternoon.

LAST UPDATE | 8 Feb 2023

IRISH HUMANITARIAN AID organisations are scaling up their emergency response in Turkey and Syria following Monday’s devastating earthquake. 

The death toll from the quake has above 11,700 this afternoon as rescuers race to save survivors trapped under debris in the winter cold. The death toll is expected to continue to rise.

Since the 7.8 magnitude quake struck, thousands of searchers have worked in freezing temperatures to find those still alive under flattened buildings on either side of the border.

Dóchas, the Irish association of non-governmental development organisations, has today said Irish NGOs are on the ground and working through local partners to help the survivors. 

The following Irish aid organisations have launched emergency appeals to support the relief effort:

Speaking yesterday, Dóchas CEO Jane-Ann McKenna said: “Local facilities are overwhelmed, and there is an urgent need for food, water, temporary shelter, clothes, blankets, hygiene and sanitary products, and medical items.

“It is vital that these supplies are delivered as quickly as possible to those who need them most.” 

Elsewhere, Irish woman Anne O’Rorke who runs a non-profit organisation working working with Syrian refugees in Turkey is in a “race against time” to get basic supplies to two medical centres in Idlib – a rebel-controlled region of north-west Syria that has been devastated by the recent earthquakes. 

O’Rorke initially moved to Izmir, Turkey, to head up a construction company. She set up the TIAFI community centre in 2017 after witnessing the struggles of refugees escaping war-torn Syria first-hand. 

Now the centre works with roughly 7,000 people.

Tánaiste Micheál Martin on Monday announced that Ireland will send €2 million in emergency assistance to Turkey and Syria.

In a statement, the Department of Foreign Affairs said the €2 million allocation is in direct response to the emergency appeal for funding from the Government of Turkey and aid agencies working in Turkey and northwest Syria.

With reporting by Eimer McAuley

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    Mute Dermot Murphy
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    Jan 8th 2012, 8:36 PM

    Hope it will bring closure to some distraught family.Rip whoever you are.

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    Mute Emsy wemsy
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    Jan 9th 2012, 10:02 AM

    My thoughts exactly,as awful as it is, it is relief or finality for someone out there (in a way). Maybe find lots more if they had the manpower to search and could finally let many families minds rest over the whereabouts of their loved ones

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    Mute Manfred Meyer
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    Jan 8th 2012, 8:21 PM

    If the truth was known I am sure a majority of missing bodies could be found in the Dublin and Wicklow mountains.
    It is such a vast and inhospitable area.
    I guess if turf-cutting was to become more common place …who knows what they might find.

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    Mute Stephen Doyle
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    Jan 8th 2012, 8:27 PM

    That area really isn’t tallaght. Bodies have been dumped up there since before the British built that road

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    Mute DubInNaas
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    Jan 8th 2012, 11:15 PM

    Bodies have been dumped everywhere since ……… Umm Adam & Eve !!

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    Mute Eamonn Clancy
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    Jan 8th 2012, 9:45 PM

    Military Road is not Tallaght.

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    Mute Ger Byrne
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    Jan 8th 2012, 10:22 PM

    who gives a fu@k where it is! 5 comments on this tread and 3 were about the fuckin geography!! get a grip, someones son, daughter, mother or father was found, and sad as it may be i hope some family find comfort in the fact that their loved one can finally be brought home and given a place to rest in peace.

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    Mute Begrudgy
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    Jan 8th 2012, 11:11 PM

    Well said Ger. Thinking the same myself scrolling down.

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    Mute Emsy wemsy
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    Jan 9th 2012, 10:04 AM

    Here here ger. Who friggin cares the exact location. Human remains found, family members whereabouts found!!!!

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    Mute Bernadette Dunne
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    Jan 8th 2012, 11:42 PM

    R.I.P who ever you are and hopefully your family will be able to lay you to rest now

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    Mute Eileen Gabbett
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    Jan 9th 2012, 2:04 AM

    Rest In Peace .

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    Mute Niall Sheridan
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    Jan 8th 2012, 11:56 PM

    Sad, but the headline brings a slight smile. Like Wood Quay! Human remains in Tallaght? I should hope so.

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