Longford aid worker tells of witnessing devastating scenes in wake of Turkey earthquake

Gillian Boyle from Aughnacliffe flew to the earthquake zone just days after the disaster as part of an emergency response team with the humanitarian organisation Concern Worldwide.

 “By the time I arrived, the city was completely empty with no people or cars moving, like a ghost town,” said Gillian speaking from Concern’s office in Sanliurfa, where many apartment blocks fell during the 7.8 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes early on Monday, February 6.

 “In many parts of this region, entire communities and areas of cities are completely devastated with everyday items from people's lives mixed in with the rubble: the carpets, framed family pictures and many other day-to-day things lying amongst the debris.

“I saw collapsed buildings where I am located where the rubble had already been moved to a nearby park so that people can return to sort through it all for any belongings at a later time."

The logistics expert, who has been on the frontline of many of the world’s biggest humanitarian crises over the last 17 years including the Nepal earthquake in 2015, is coordinating the purchase of essential items for survivors while also making sure Concern staff have the equipment they need.

“I am supporting logistics, which means I am sourcing and buying the basic needs people have right now using the money people in Ireland and Irish Aid have so generously donated.

“We are providing food packs to give to people that include items like lentils, pasta, beans, sugar, salt, tinned fish. I’m also sourcing equipment for our teams who are doing distributions. There are many aftershocks here and buildings are unsafe to return to so many people are sleeping  in cars or in tents.

“Survivors here have no heating so they need blankets, coats and heaters. They also rely on coal and firewood to try light communal fires to stay warm. It is freezing at nighttime with temperatures well below freezing point and in some areas there are many inches of snow.

“Something as simple as cooking food has become a big challenge for people. It is its very hard to cook outside in the cold to feed your family, so we are distributing kitchen sets that include saucepans, mugs, cutlery and frying pans.

“There is also little or no access to bathrooms or toilets so we are trying to help people with the means of washing themselves by providing them with soap, toothpaste and toothbrushes, buckets to carry water in, sanitary pads and nappies for babies and other needs.

“Everyone here has been impacted in some way, but probably the most impacted group are the Syrian refugees who lost everything again after fleeing conflict and who have no families elsewhere here to provide some extra support.”

Gillian, who attended secondary school in Cnoc Mhuire, Granard, said she always wanted to help people suffering from extreme poverty and hunger.

Her humanitarian career has taken her to some of the poorest and most troubled nations on Earth, including Chad, Niger, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Bangladesh, Syria, Nepal, Lebanon, Central African Republic, Ukraine, Haiti, Sudan and Sierra Leone.

Concern launched an emergency appeal for Turkey and Syria and urges anyone who would like to support it to go to concern.net or to call 0818 410 510.