Finland to send emergency aid to victims of earthquake in Türkiye and Syria

The rescue effort was launched quickly following the devastating earthquake that struck southern Türkiye on Monday 6 February. More than 5,000 people died and more than 20,000 were injured in Türkiye and Syria.

“The scale of human distress is immense in the region, and fear of aftershocks makes it worse. Finland wants to help quickly those affected by the disaster. Turkish and Syrian teams of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Society are already helping people on the ground, for example by providing meals and emergency shelters, and Finland supports their work,” says Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Ville Skinnari.

Finland’s support will be delivered to the region by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). IFRC has launched emergency appeals for EUR 70.6 million to support affected people in Türkiye and Syria. The collected funds will allow IFRC to provide food, shelter, medical supplies and psychosocial support, among other help, to people who lost their homes in the two countries. Turkish and Syrian teams of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Society are already helping people on the ground, and Finland supports their work.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs also supports the Finnish Red Cross on an annual basis to ensure its capacity to quickly mobilise response to disasters and crises.

The earthquake struck in a region that is politically fragmented and controlled by many different groups. Moreover, 4.1 million people in north-western Syria were already in need of humanitarian assistance. Poor communication connections, unreliable electricity supply and collapsed road networks make it difficult to monitor the situation and deliver relief.
In addition to humanitarian assistance, Finland is sending experts to Türkiye to assist in rescue and relief work. The experts will be deployed through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism: https://intermin.fi/-/suomi-lahettaa-asiantuntija-apua-turkkiin?languageId=en_US 

Inquiries:

• Lauratuulia Lehtinen, Director, Unit for Humanitarian Assistance and Policy, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, tel. +358 46 921 2030
• Emmi Mäkelä, Special Adviser to the Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, tel. +358 50 473 6694
• The email addresses of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs are in the format firstname.lastname@formin.fi.