By Minaz Kerawala, Communications and Public Relations Advisor
Striking back-to-back on February 6, 2023, the Türkiye-Syria earthquakes took over 65,000 lives across the two countries, injured nearly 119,000 people and caused extensive, economy-sapping damage.
Heeding Pope Francis’s call to solidarity with affected people, Development and Peace ― Caritas Canada made an upfront allocation of $75,000 and launched a collection. Adding our own funds to Canadians’ generous donations and a matching contribution from the Government of Canada, we invested $955,000 in our partners’ relief and rehabilitation efforts.
This helped Caritas Türkiye, Caritas Syria, the Community-based Centers for Spatial Justice and Jesuit Refugee Service Syria to reach tens of thousands of people with a sustained, broad-spectrum response that went well beyond the provision of immediate, basic needs. The partnerships, programming, challenges and results are presented in a new report.
From the bottom of our hearts, we, our partners and the people they serve thank the people and government of Canada for their trust and support. Read the report to learn more about the difference this has made over the three years since the Türkiye-Syria earthquakes.