In the aftermath of the violent earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria last Monday, the latest estimation of casualties includes more than 20,000 people killed and more than 78,000 people injured across the two countries. In addition, hundreds of thousands have been left homeless in what is now being called one of the worst natural disasters of the century.
The following is a list of some organizations that we at Syriawise know have been working nonstop to help the victims of the earthquake with links for supporting them financially.
– The Syrian Civil Defense, a rescue group also known as the White Helmets which was already operating in opposition-held parts of Syria, has been conducting nonstop rescue efforts since Monday using whatever means at their disposal. White Helmet director Raed al-Saleh has launched a GoFundMe appeal for aid to help their efforts in the rebel-controlled areas.
– The Syrian American Medical Society, also known as SAMS, is a United States-based humanitarian organization that has been consistently working on the frontlines of crisis relief in Syria and beyond to provide medical care that saves lives and alleviates suffering. One of the few hospitals that continue to operate in northwest Syria was built by SAMS. In spite of the fact that the hospital sustained damage from the earthquake, it has been providing nonstop care for its victims since Monday.
– Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is another medical relief organization that already had teams present in the area and began treating patients within the first hours of the first earthquake. Sadly, two MSF staff members died in the quake and others lost family members and loved ones but that has not stopped them from sending surgeons and ambulances as well as emergency kits, trauma kits, medical supplies, hygiene kits, food items, and blankets to 30 hospitals and health facilities as well as families in the Idlib and Aleppo governorates.
– On a smaller scale, but with a more direct impact, BRIDGE OF PEACE SYRIA (BOPS) is a registered non-profit, tax-exempt Humanitarian Aid Organization located in Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA. Since 2014 BOPS has been working to address the most urgent needs of internally displaced Syrian families by providing tons of food, baby milk, blankets, warm winter clothing, and heating fuel as well as funding sustainable projects to allow recipients to become self-sufficient.
Many of the families, single mothers, and Syrian orphans already connected to Bridge of Peace Syria were affected by the earthquake and a fundraising effort to provide them with emergency help is currently underway. Donors to BOPS can also rest assured that since it is a small volunteer-run organization with no operating expenses, every single dollar that is donated goes directly for aid to displaced Syrians.
– And last but not least, another organization that has been operating in northwest Syria for years is the Molham Volunteering Team, a nonprofit, charitable organization founded in 2012 in Jordan, by a group of Syrian university students. The Team’s goal is to provide aid to internally displaced and refugee Syrians in northern Syria and neighboring countries. The organization is registered in several countries around the world, including Germany, Canada, and Sweden. The Molham Team has consistently had boots on the ground in northern Syria and is currently conducting its own Earthquake Response-Emergency Fundraising Campaign.
Donation to the Syrian people is not restricted to these ways. This serves just as an example.
