Concerned July newsletter

At 4.17am local time on Monday, 6th February 2023, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit southeast Türkiye and Syria. Just hours later, a second, 7.5 magnitude quake struck, leaving yet more destruction in its wake. An estimated 50,000 people were killed, over 100,000 people injured, and over 1.5 million left homeless.

Grieving survivors were forced to contend with freezing temperatures, lack of shelter and loss of electricity and heating, making rescue efforts were extremely challenging. However, with our dedicated Türkiye staff already on the ground, Concern were able to respond to the crisis within hours of the first earthquake, providing immediate emergency support to those most in need. Our teams:

• Provided blankets, mattresses and sleeping mats to thousands of people and constructed safe sleeping areas and tents
• Delivered hot meals to those most affected
• Made sure clean water was readily available
• Provided families who had lost everything with hygiene kits to protect them from disease  

By the end of July 2023, we will have reached over 194,000 people, giving them the means to begin rebuilding their lives. And we couldn't have done it without your support. 

We met Irmine and her family at an exhibition centre in Sanliurfa in the days following the earthquake. They were among the 9,000 people who had been sheltering there since the disaster on February 8th. Irmine’s home had been badly damaged in the earthquake, and she and her children were shaken by what had happened.

Irmine said: "They are afraid of being inside any concrete building. Four people in our building died in the earthquake. 

At the centre, Irmine and her family received food, heaters and blankets from Concern, providing a lifeline at an extremely worrying time. Your donations allowed us to reach thousands of people like Irmine with vital support.

When food is scarce, mothers are often the first to miss meals so their children can eat. For pregnant women, surviving on so little means malnutrition is all the more likely. And, for their unborn children, malnutrition puts them at greater risk of undernourishment and premature death.

But thanks to your generous donations, Concern’s health workers screened over 119,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women for malnutrition in 2022 - women like Jamna.

In Pakistan's Umerkot District, expectant mother Jamna was surviving on leftovers to protect her young family, leaving her weak and in pain. Concern teams were able to reach and diagnose Jamna with acute malnutrition six months into her pregnancy. Providing assistance in five key areas – breastfeeding, complementary feeding, micronutrient supplements, pregnancy supplements and management – Jamna received the support she needed. And, as Jamna grew stronger, so did her baby, who was getting the nutrients they needed to begin life stronger and healthier.

In Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan, the worst drought conditions in more than 40 years continue to cause devastation for millions of vulnerable people. Close to 40 million people are still facing high levels of food insecurity in the region, with the number of internally-displaced people (IDPs) continuing to grow as the search for sources of food and water goes on. In Somalia, for example, more than one million people have been forced to leave their homes since January 2021 in the desperate hope of staying alive.

While some areas of the Horn of Africa have registered rains in the past few months, this remains a crisis of catastrophic proportions, with millions facing life-threatening hunger. 

But thanks to the kindness of generous supporters like you, we are delivering urgent assistance to families, including vital cash transfers and therapeutic food, which helps to boost the diets of malnourished children as food grows scarce. And, by introducing longer-term solutions, such as providing drought-resistant seeds and tools, families can grow their own crops – even when rains don’t come. 

Among those we were able to help was Ayaan, a mother-of-four from Somaliland. Ayaan and her husband, who depend on their livestock for their income, have been deeply affected by the ongoing drought, due a combination of rising prices and the death of their livestock.