The Truro based international disaster relief charity ShelterBox is sending a response team after the earthquakes that devastated Turkey and Syria.

The emergency response team will carry out crucial assessments to establish what support is needed after a series of powerful earthquakes devastated southern Turkey and northern Syria. The assessment team will arrive in Turkey later this week.

The humanitarian need in Turkey and Syria is immense and growing – it's the most devastating earthquake to hit the region in 100 years and could become the worst. The death toll is likely to rise significantly, and thousands of buildings have been destroyed in both countries leaving people homeless, with nowhere to sleep, in the middle of a bitter winter.

ShelterBox is launching an emergency fundraising appeal to help people affected by the earthquakes and other disasters around the world. The charity provides different combinations of emergency shelter aid and essential household items during its responses depending on what is needed.

Getting aid into countries and on to where it’s needed after a disaster of this scale presents huge challenges especially with damage to infrastructure and supply routes. That’s why ShelterBox strategically pre-positions aid around the world, including in Syria.

Head of Emergency Response for ShelterBox, Alice Jefferson says: “Emergency responses to a disaster of this scale can be a huge logistical nightmare especially against the clock.

“Freezing temperatures and heavy rain are causing extra complications. The poor weather poses a real threat to life for people whose homes are now rubble or unsafe to return to.

“Access and communication are challenging and that’s why responses must be well-coordinated to make sure that the right aid is getting to the right people, in the right place, at the right time.”

ShelterBox is liaising closely with its existing partners that it works with in Syria as part of its sustained response to the ongoing conflict in the country, as well as Rotary contacts in Turkey.

Regional Director at ShelterBox, Sam Hewett adds: “Powerful aftershocks and poor winter weather are hampering rescue efforts. Temperatures can drop below freezing at this time of year in the affected areas and this is putting lives at risk.

“There was snowfall and heavy rain in the region before the earthquakes struck and this is likely to increase the humanitarian need in the region.

“To make matters worse, the region where the earthquakes struck is home to significant numbers of Syrian refugees and internally displaced people. They have already faced so much – many having to flee their homes because of conflict.”

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ShelterBox has been working in Syria since 2012, supporting people displaced by the ongoing conflict.

Since 2000, ShelterBox has helped more than 2.5 million people across the world with different combinations of emergency shelter aid, support, and essential household items. As well as Syria, the charity is currently helping people displaced by conflict in places like Ukraine, Yemen, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, and Mozambique.

It’s also supporting people affected by monsoon flooding in Pakistan, drought in East Africa, and a tropical storm in the Philippines.

For more information about ShelterBox or to donate go to shelterbox.org.