Turkey-Syria earthquake: One year on

On this day last year, the ummah was shattered when two earthquakes hit Turkey and Syria. At 04:10 (local time), a 17.9km deep earthquake with a 7.8 magnitude struck near the Turkish region of Gaziantep, which borders Syria.

Hours later, at 13:24 (local time), a second earthquake with a magnitude of 7.5 struck the Turkish region of Kahramanmaras. A total of 62,013 were killed and 121,704 were injured in both Turkey and Syria.

Muslim Aid’s Headquarters went to work immediately to provide relief and we were amongst the first charities to respond. We had already been functioning in northwestern Syria which had at that point been struck by 12 years of war, so coupled with 37 years of experience in delivering emergency aid, our infrastructure to serve northwestern Syria and southeastern Turkey was already in place.

With your help, we were able to immediately deliver tents, emergency cash, food, health emergency kits, build emergency clinics and winter-proof items. Staff from Muslim Aid HQ and Muslim Aid Sweden were on the ground within 48 hours to oversee the operation and support our trusted partners on the ground.

Since then, our efforts have continued and we sought to ensure that our response was sustainable, life-saving and met the needs of victims throughout the year.

Over the last year, you served a whopping 96,028 victims of the Turkey-Syria earthquake. Here are the highlights of our response:

· You provided emergency cash grants for 2,739 people and vouchers for 856 people across Turkey and Syria

· You provided meals for 1,525 people in Syria throughout Ramadan

· You provided hot iftar meals for 720 people in Turkey throughout Ramadan

· You provided 680 people with winter survival kits

· You built solar-paneled homes for 52 families

· You provided aid for 7 hospitals and 6 health centres, enough to serve 76,865 patients

· You built a Masjid for Syria

Our swift response was recognised fast and our work was featured across the UK and Middle Eastern media platforms, including: multiple BBC Radio interviews, London Live, Middle East Monitor and The Guardian.

As we continue to work with the resilient communities that are recovering from the disaster that was inflicted on them a year ago, continue to support Muslim Aid so we can rebuild their lives.