The Mossawa Centre offers its condolences to the families of the victims of the earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria and its subsequent humanitarian crisis. The management of the center announced that it will provide as much help as possible to the wounded and the families of the victims. Together with other Arab civil society organizations, the center will work to stand by the victims of the earthquakes.
At the same time, the Mossawa Center warns of the lack of preparedness to deal with such disasters within the Arab town and cities within the Green Line, and in the territories of the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The responsibility for the readiness lies with the Israeli government, which has not allocated the necessary resources to prepare for disasters of this type.
Many people are unaware of the actions they need to take in the event such disasters hit their localities, due to the lack of emergency centres, Rapid Response Units and rescue services within an approachable distance that can aid them should the need arises.
Despite the dire socio-economic situation and the poverty that our society suffers from, the popular response to the disaster in Turkey and Syria has been unprecedented, as there have been numerous initiatives encouraging people to donate money that will contribute to the efforts in relieving the survivors of the disaster and their families in both countries.
Among these efforts are also the work of civil society organizations such as Humanity Crew, which is a mental health aid organization preventing trauma with displaced children and their families. The organization is operating in Haifa and had set up a campaign on their social media channels calling to provide mental health aid to the affected children and their families, and is currently working to send out an emergency delegation to coordinate and provide services that can prevent the development of mental disorders among children and their families.
Dozens of other associations are working to raise funds in all Arab communities. The Committee for the Syrian People began raising funds for the refugees in Syria. Delegations of rescue organizations have already arrived at several centers in Turkey and have begun to assist in the rescue operations. The organization of Arab doctors began to plan sending a delegation of doctors to help in field hospitals in different places.
Furthermore, we have learnt of several Arab families, who were affected by the earthquake while staying in Gazientab and got stranded while trying to make their way to Ankara. The emergency response centre set by the Israeli FM in Ankara provided little help and advised them to head to Ankara or Istanbul, where they could get more assistance. However, the problem was getting there in the first place, as the roads were blocked and they needed to make three consecutive attempts before they finally managed to reach their destination.
Many Arab families are trying to locate their family members in the refugee camps in northern Syria. Many families report that they are unable to contact their family members. These are refugee families who arrived in Syria after the Nakba. However, during the recent civil war, some of them migrated outside of Syria. The Arabs of the Golan also began to collect donations and deliver aid to the victims in Syria.
The Mossawa Centre stresses the importance of creating emergency response centres in Arab Towns and cities, as part of its efforts to close the gaps in allocated budgets by the government and the treasury for the Arab sector especially municipalities and local authorities at risk.
We include here few emergency contact details:
https://www.oref.org.il/12824-he/pakar.aspx
eq.gsi.gov.il
Links for donations:
https://giveback.co.il/project/71306?lang=he
https://bit.ly/TurkiyeSyriaEarthquake
Societies and organizations:
https://humanitycrew.org/contact
Roy- 0543030280 whatsApp
Maria – 0546676639 whatsApp
