Turkey provides tents to flood victims in Syria


Turkish relief organizations have provided tents to Syrians in northwestern Syria's Idlib who lost their shelters due to heavy floods.

Turkish NGOs - the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) and Fetih-Der - provided 80 families that could not find shelter following the floods with tents. Last week, 25,000 civilians lost their shelters due to floods caused by heavy rain.

Yusuf İslam Yeşil, responsible for IHH's emergency aid programs in Syria, said that the organization's work for Syrians, including providing tents, would continue in the upcoming days.

Previously, Selim Tosun, the İHH's media adviser in Syria, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that they sent urgently needed items such as blankets, winter clothes, boots and tents.

"However, there are so many victims, for this reason we expect our donor's support," Tosun said, adding that they only had 800 tents, which they were planning to pitch in areas not affected by flooding.

Indicating that their support for the flood victims is ongoing, the head of Fetih-Der said that initially, working jointly with IHH, the organization provided suffering families with humanitarian aid.

The families were also provided food, blankets, carpets and clothes suitable for the winter conditions.

Since Dec. 22, at least 22 refugee camps were flooded, and 67 others were badly affected by heavy rains in the Atmeh camps region, according to data collected by the Syria Intervention Coordinators, a local nongovernmental organization (NGO) devoted to helping civilians.

At least 220 tents were demolished, and 550 tents were flooded. No casualties have yet been reported as a result of the flooding, but numerous heads of livestock reportedly perished. Previously, other Turkish NGO's also provided humanitarian aid to flood-hit Syrians, particularly the Turkish Red Crescent and Turkey's Diyanet Foundation (TDV).