How to really help Turkey and Syria according to experienced NGOs

The blanket that you send must be collected, classified, disinfected, stored, sent, received and distributed by qualified personnel. That involves logistics and money. Buy it in Turkey, not so much. If money is donated, the help is more effective, they insist from the NGOs trying to convince people who prefer to donate something “material”.

“We are very grateful for the good will, but we remind the population that if they want to help it is better to do it in another way,” says María Alcázar, director of international cooperation for the Red Cross, “one euro is more efficient than any aid in kind.”

The OCU already warned about it on the occasion of the war in Ukraine, the in-kind donations of clothing, utensils or food are a good option for local help and very specific cases such as the Great Collection organized by the Food Bankbut in the rest of the situations, especially whenor help must be sent to faraway places, its alot better donate money Because it makes logistics much easier.

“Is very difficult to get clothes or food from Spain right to the people who need it and A lot of time is wasted organizing shipments,” the OCU clarified at the time, after recommending financial donations, and NGOs with experience in catastrophes agreed with them.

Both the Red Cross, Intermón Oxfan or Doctors Without Borders have already launched campaigns to collect donations. Collaborating is easy, you just have to send an SMS, a Bizum or enter the contribution by transfer. No matter the amount, everything helps and they can be started right away.

Red Cross through the Syrian Arab Red Crescent is located responding on the ground from the first hour, supporting search and rescue operations, as well as other NGOs such as Doctors Without Borders that already have qualified personnel there and all this thanks to donations. The NGOs that work in the field also have their catalog of standard products to provide solutions to those affected in the most efficient way.

NGOs with more experience in humanitarian aid and emergency assistance are reliable agencies and usually facilitate the contribution.

From Doctors Without Borders an emergency fund has been created to care for earthquake victims. Contributions can be:

Spanish Red Cross has enabled several official channels of help that can be in the following ways:

For its part, Oxfam Intermón reminds us of the importance of the disaster:

Unicef ​​also collects donations, recalling the importance of the emergency fund: “Thanks to the Emergency Fund we may have resources to help them, tboth in the first minutes when immediate action is required and in prolonged situations over time”, they explain.

The Turkish Emergency and Disaster Management Office (AFAD), that is, the department of the Turkish Ministry of the Interior that is in charge of managing rescue efforts, has also enabled several routes: