Doctors Without Borders responding to the 6 Feb earthquake - Donate if you can

Dear Friend, 

I’d like to share with you an update on the devastating impact of the Feb. 6 earthquakes in Syria and Türkiye, and on our work as Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) providing and supporting urgent medical care and assistance for people affected.

Our teams and partners in northwestern Syria have been working hard to treat people since the disaster struck. Many of our staff have been impacted themselves, whether directly or indirectly, by the earthquakes. Some have lost their houses or their loved ones too. Sadly, two of our colleagues died.

What is MSF doing?

Within the first hours of the first earthquake, MSF teams in northwestern Syria treated over 200 patients in Idlib. In the first days we supported care for 3,465 injured in health facilities in Aleppo and Idlib governorates and provided emergency medical items to over 23 facilities in northern Idlib. 

As of Feb. 9, we have:

• supported 30 health facilities, donating emergency kits, medical supplies and blankets
• sent medical staff, including surgeons, to hospitals dealing with influx of wounded
• treated injured patients and increased capacity in four health facilities in Idlib governate
• supported 90 ambulances to help transfer patients
• set up mobile medical clinics in three reception centres in Idlib and nearby

MSF treated more than 200 patients in Idlib within the first hours of the first earthquake. The teams activated an immediate response based on their emergency preparedness plan. MSF has increased bed capacity in our medical facilities by adding tents where needed.

Throughout the region, houses and buildings have been destroyed, leaving thousands homeless and without basic necessities. MSF has distributed food and blankets to more than 500 families in reception centres in Afrin. We distributed more than 450 kits, including hygiene items, kitchen and winter kits, and blankets in Jindires and to families in reception centres in Azaz, Mare’ and surrounding villages.

MSF teams are assessing needs in the most affected areas of southern Türkiye. We are ready to provide assistance and to mobilize our emergency capacities, as we were not working inside the country before the earthquake.

This is only possible because of donations from people like you. By giving to our general fund today, you will be helping ensure we can respond to emergencies around the world, including to the earthquakes in Syria and Türkiye.

The massive consequences of this disaster will require an equally massive international response. People urgently need shelter, food, blankets, clothes, heating materials, hygiene kits, and medical assistance – including access to mental health support.

For Syrians living in the earthquake zone, this is a catastrophe layered on top of crisis after crisis. People have endured more than a decade of war, an economic crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic and a recent cholera outbreak.

For the latest on MSF's response to the earthquake as information becomes available, please visit doctorswithoutborders.ca. To support our teams around the world, please donate today.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Joseph Belliveau
Executive Director
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
doctorswithoutborders.ca