Gift of the Givers

Gift of the Givers search and rescue teams are headed to Turkey and Syria to assist with relief efforts, the humanitarian aid group confirmed.

Currently, our team members including Dr Naeem Kathrada and Colin Deiner, head of Western Cape provincial disaster, are in a meeting with the Turkish consul-general and the general manager of Turkish Airlines, Muhammed Soner Aydin. We will be meeting the Turkish ambassador and [officials from the] Department of International Relations and Cooperation later today,” it said. To Subscribe to Sunday World, [click here.](https://subs.arena.africa/#!/offer/411?utm_source=promo411&utm_medium=Circ) Not only has the call been made, but we have been contacted directly by the Turkish ambassador to South Africa, Aysegul Kandas, and by the consul-general in Cape Town, Sinan Yesildag, to assist in this huge disaster. “Gift of the Givers only responds if a call is made by the affected country for international assistance. “Our staff in Syria and Turkey awoke to a terrifying tremor at 04h10 today [Monday], a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck various villages and cities in both Turkey and Syria,” said the Gift of the Givers.

As the combined death toll in the devastating earthquake in Turkey near the border with Syria continues to rise drastically, humanitarian organization Gift ...

We’ve also spoken to Turkish Airlines that will facilitate all transfers and flights from South Africa to Istanbul and onwards where aid is required.” We are putting together a team of 60 personnel in this category and my increase it to one hundred.” The number is going to very high.” There are casualties in all parts of Syria. Dr. [Gift of the Givers](https://giftofthegivers.org/) to the Turkish government, the Turkish people and families of victims who suffered devastating losses as a result of the deadly earthquake.

The elderly parents of Turkish journalist Turkmen Terzi escaped the deadly earthquakes that struck near the Turkey-Syria border on Monday.

Only rescue operations are allowed to travel to the south," he said. The roads are damaged, and there has been structural damage to bridges, water, and petrol pipelines. He flew to Turkey on Monday to assist with search and rescue operations and food supply, among other missions. "Many national highways to the south have been closed. "I was born in Kahramanmaras and went to high school there. More than 6 300 people (at the time of writing) have been reported killed in the disaster.

South Africa's ambassador to Turkey Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba has confirmed that a prison where seven South Africans were detained collapsed during the deadly ...

[Cyril Ramaphosa ](https://allafrica.com/stories/202302070105.html)has, on behalf of the Government and people of South Africa, expressed his deep sadness at the large-scale loss of life and extent of injuries inflicted by an earthquake that has affected the nations of Türkiye and Syria. It said it expected the death toll in Turkey and Syria to increase as the search continued. We are told the prison has also collapsed but we don't know as yet whether we have survivors or whether people are still trapped under the rubble. Our hearts go out to families who have lost loved ones or are searching for relatives and we wished injured survivors a full recovery," said Ramaphosa. We are waiting, anxiously so, to receive information," said Letsatsi-Duba. February 8 update: Four South Africans detained in a Turkey prison escaped injury during the earthquake in the country, the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco)

The magnitude 7.8 quake was the deadliest in Türkiye since 1999.

Every minute and every hour just makes it more critical for people trapped under the rubble. “The equipment arrived at our new warehouse in Johannesburg early (Tuesday) morning. "We’ve not been alerted to any of our nationals affected by the earthquake. giftofthegivers.org/make-a-difference or call 0800 786 911 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared a three-month state of emergency in 10 south eastern provinces. There’s four SA prisoners we know of, but they were not injured.