PILnet wishes to express our deepest sympathy for the people in Türkiye and Syria, and stands in solidarity with those affected and those working to provide humanitarian support. We call on our network to support the humanitarian response as a priority during this crucial emergency stage after these devastating earthquakes.
The heavy winter conditions have impacted the search and rescue efforts severely. Initial reports indicate that tens of thousands of people either lost their lives or are still trapped under the rubble, and more are left homeless in cold weather conditions or cannot enter their homes. The damage is immense. The people of Türkiye and Syria will not be able to recover from this tragedy without support from the international community.
- For information about local organizations to support now, visit Asylum Access’ website: https://asylumaccess.org/
turkiye-syria-earthquakes/ - For emergency updates, especially for the thousands of refugees hosted in Turkey, including information about unaccompanied minors and travel permit procedures, visit the Information Portal for Refugees in Turkey: https://multecihaklari.info/
services/emergency-updates/ - If you are an organization providing humanitarian assistance in Türkiye and Syria and would like us to share your resources with our network, email us at [email protected].
We envisage in the weeks and months ahead legal issues may arise and we are already in contact with our partners on the ground to identify local needs and assess how our network may be able to help.
If any NGOs or refugee-led organizations are in need of legal assistance now, our legal matching services are available to support them to find free legal help as they navigate resuming operations in the aftermath of the earthquakes.
Please follow PILnet on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook, as we will share more resources there as they become available.
