Pray for Turkey and Syria

 

Please pray for all the people in Turkey and Syria who have been affected by the major earthquakes this past week. On Monday, 6 February, southeastern Turkey experienced two devastating earthquakes on the same day, a 7.7 earthquake at 04:17 and then 7.6 earthquake at 13:24, with both epicenters in the southeastern province of Kahramanmaraş, Turkey. The earthquake had devastating effects in 10 provinces in Turkey, and in Syria, leveling many cities and villages. While we were almost 7 hour away from the epicenter, we felt both earthquakes in Ankara. As of this morning, the death toll in Turkey is up nearing 25,000 people, hundreds of thousands of people are injured, over 80,000 people have been rescued, and hundreds of thousands of homes have been destroyed. The destruction of this earthquake is devastating, and the country has been mourning this week. It has been a sad week.

The earthquakes occurred in a very poor and underdeveloped part of the country, where the infrastructure is old and building construction was not up to earthquake standards. We had the honor of visiting this part of the country last December, and it is so sad to see the loss of life, number of injured people, and destruction that has taken place. Relief efforts for the earthquake victims have been amazing from within Turkey and around the world. Everyone in the country is coming together to help in any way possible. In the affected areas, many tent camps have been established to shelter earthquake survivors, but it is the middle of winter and very cold in this part of the country. Search and rescue teams from across the world have been working tirelessly day and night to rescue people, but it has been difficult to get to some of the affected areas. As the roads become accessible, supplies have been brought to the affected areas, and many people started arriving in Ankara, Istanbul, and other parts of the country this week for medical care and shelter.  In Ankara, there are many ways to contribute, between efforts at the Embassy, the kids’ schools, and companies organizing relief and support efforts.

There is a U.S. consulate in Gazientep, which was one of the areas severely affected by the earthquake. We were told that all of the local staff there lost their homes. There were also private American citizens with families in that region. The consulate employees and other American citizens in the region started arriving in Ankara the past couple days to receive medical care, housing, and support. Many people in the community have connections to others affected.  Our nanny’s older daughter recently moved back to Ankara from Hatay, a city that was almost completely leveled in the earthquake, and she sadly knows many people who lost their lives, are injured, and lost their homes. It has been a sad week in Turkey. 

Please pray for the earthquake victims and their loved ones, for all the workers and volunteers around the world who performing rescue and relief efforts, and for people to know they are loved and cared for. We are encouraged by each rescue made and the support people are receiving, but their road is long and just beginning, the needs are great, and will become greater as time goes on. Thank you for praying.