Earthquake Response

UPDATE: ACCI Disaster Appeal for Türkiye & Syria

ACCI launched a disaster appeal, following the devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck both Türkiye and Syria on 6 February 2023. This natural disaster caused immense destruction to multiple cities and resulted in more than 50,000 people losing their lives.

ACC churches have responded generously to the Appeal, to bring aid to people in the region. Initial funds have provided emergency assistance through our partners and field workers on the ground. This has included tarps, water filters, hygiene kits, food, clothing and access to hot meals. As time goes on, this support is transitioning towards helping people recover and rebuild their lives.

This update is from one of our Field Worker couples in Türkiye (who cannot be named for security reasons):

“The church [here] is so very tiny and there is only really one Christian-related aid organisation in the country, with foreign groups normally banned or restricted. Yet with the help of ACC, family and friends, our local communities chose to make a difference [in] the local community. Locally, our strength primarily lies in two areas: young adults (especially university students) and our oversight of a Syrian refugee church.

• Through the local refugee church, we have been able to re-house and support nearly 30 refugee families with full relocation, rent, clothing, food and supplies and place them under ongoing care. Many of these people had lost everything in the Syrian war and again, lost everything due to the earthquake. The number of families we continue to aid in this area rises nearly every day.

• Through our partnership with another local community, we have been able to provide supplies and food, and are now opening a trauma centre in our city that’s especially focused on children – with Türkiye’s sole Christian psychologist. It is your support that has provided the finance to make it happen.

• We have been able to provide over 30 small scholarships to students displaced or disadvantaged due to the earthquake. Students who have lost family, lost their homes, lost entire classes of friends. These are but small seeds of help and hope that open doors.

• Heartbreak and hope go hand in hand here. Yahya, a new believer, was in hospital due to bone cancer when the quake hit; his wife and daughters died in their home. Sometimes there are no words but through your help we were able to initially relocate him to our city and then again to another for recovery and the support of local believers.

In this crisis, the fragile local church in particular has stood strong in the love of God, demonstrating and declaring Christ’s love in a very broken world, and people are finding hope –not just temporal but eternal. After all the international aid organisations are gone, and the world moves onto the next crisis, the bride of Christ will remain. It is your partnership that strengthens and lengthens her arms.”