Press Release, 14.02.2023

Photo: The Turkish Red Crescent and Syrian Arab Red Crescent

The Yabloko branch in Udmurtia started collection of humanitarian aid for victims of a series of earthquakes in Turkey and Syria that happened on the night of February 5-6. Yabloko asks Russian citizens to bring medicines, children’s and women’s hygiene products, travel accessories, and power banks to the office.

Iya Boronina, Chairwoman of the Yabloko branch in Udmurtia, contacted the Turkish Consulate General in Kazan and the Syrian Embassy in Moscow. Victims have a priority need for the following:

For shipping to Turkey:

baby formulas, diapers;

feminine hygiene products;

blankets;

heaters;

sleeping bags;

tents;

thermoses;

power banks.

For shipping to Syria:

medicines (light antibiotics, paracetamol, analgesics) which must be with shopping bills;

baby food, baby formula;

diapers;

feminine hygiene products.

There is no need to bring clothes as there are plenty of them. Also, cash is not accepted. There are official government websites that provide details for transferring funds, as well as humanitarian organisations, for example: the International Humanitarian Movement of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, the Turkish Emergency Department, the official website of the Syrian Embassy in Moscow with details for donations.

The collection of humanitarian aid will be held at the Yabloko office at the address Izhevsk,  Pushkinskaya 277, office 5.1.2 (5th floor), until February 18 inclusive. Contact tel. in Izhevsk: +7(3412) 770015.

The office is open Monday to Friday from 18:30 to 20:30, Saturday from 12:00 to 16:00.

On Sunday, the humanitarian cargo will go to the Turkish and Syrian missions in Russia.

As a result of the catastrophic earthquake that affected ten provinces of Turkey and the northern part of Syria, to date, the death toll has exceeded 36,000 people, more than 80,000 are injured. The rescue operation has not yet been completed, the numbers are not final. It is hard to assess the number of people left without shelter and basic necessities. The World Health Organisation estimates that 26 million people in Turkey and Syria could be affected by the natural disaster, including about five million people who were already considered socially vulnerable until the disaster. The situation is complicated by the fact that the air temperature is dropping.

“This terrible tragedy has shown that we have no control over anything in our lives. There are neither nationalities, ideologies, religious or political differences, nor language barrier, when there is disaster. Grief has a sole language. The language of the heart,” Iya Boronina, Chairwoman of the Udmurtian Yabloko, said.