UN agencies bring aid to Turkish earthquake zone

The United Nations convened a donor meeting in Ankara, Turkey, today to assess the latest situation in Bingol and surrounding communities hit by an earthquake last week, killing more than 175 people and injuring over 520.

The four-member UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team, which has been working at the scene, gave an update on conditions. In Bingol alone, 82 housing units were completely destroyed, 1,176 heavily damaged and uninhabitable, and 1,399 damaged but inhabitable.

All search and rescue operations have now been terminated and rehabilitation activities have begun.

UN aid to date includes $50,000 from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA); 160 semi-winterized school-tents, 90 emergency kits to the Ministry of Health, 50 psychosocial kits and 40 pre-school health kits from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Meanwhile, 3 trauma kits, for 100 persons each, have been received from the World Health Organization (WHO); 10 emergency rubber halls and 1,000 mattresses from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR); and 48 reproductive health kits covering the needs of 60,000 people for three month from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA).