Earthquakes in Syria and Türkiye

Together with our partner organization SARD, we distributed blankets, tents, ready-to-eat meals and stoves to people affected by the earthquake in northwestern Syria. A community center was repaired for use as an emergency shelter. Other minor repair work has been carried out to stabilize damaged buildings.

In Türkiye, we supported people with food, baby food and drinking water.

WHH has its regular offices in Türkiye in Gaziantep, Kilis, Mardin and Hatay, as well as in Istanbul and in the northern Syrian provinces of Idlib and Aleppo. We have implemented our relief work in the affected areas near these sites.

We implement projects – including emergency aid – ourselves or through independent local partner organizations that we trust. Passing on funds or goods is not transparent and does not comply with our Code of Conduct. Project activities, whether in development cooperation or emergency aid, are always budgeted and all expenditures must be accounted for. Our projects are subject to regular internal and external audits to ensure that funds are used correctly. Corruption is an offense that will be punished. This is agreed upon by each WHH employee in their contract. Before distributing relief supplies, surveys are carried out to determine which people have what exact needs. We recorded the distribution of relief supplies to individuals so the process could be measured and carried out equitably.

In the event of crises and disasters, WHH only sends qualified staff who have undergone security training to the affected regions. They coordinate the relief measures professionally on the ground. In the regions affected by earthquakes, we have always worked with reliable partner organizations and can thus make optimum use of existing structures and contacts to provide aid to those in need. We understand that many people want to volunteer, especially when their own family and friends have been affected by the disaster. However, please understand that while we sincerely appreciate such offers of help, we cannot accept them. Coordinating volunteers would take a lot of additional energy. Furthermore, especially in disaster situations, experience and expertise in crisis management, language and local knowledge are absolutely necessary. All WHH employees who are sent to crisis regions must have completed safety training in advance. We hope you understand that we cannot accept offers for this reason.

Relief goods such as clothing, food, tents, hygiene articles, etc. were available locally or at least regionally. As a matter of principle, WHH strives for local and regional procurement, because this means that less money is spent on avoidable transports, import duties, storage, distribution costs, etc. The money saved can be better invested directly in aid. WHH can better invest the money saved directly in aid. Moreover, we can strengthen the markets in a country and trust that the needs will be served appropriately and that the food and other relief supplies that people are accustomed to will be accepted. The organizational and financial effort for the coordination of donations in kind from overseas is extensive and ties up personnel and money that is urgently and quickly needed for immediate aid in such a disaster. We were able to procure relief supplies both in Türkiye and in northwestern Syria.