The Turkey Ministry Of Interior Disaster And Emergency anagement (AFAD) has requested Food For Life (FFL) Turkey to go to city of Hatay / Antakya. The Lotus Trust is partnering with FFL Turkey and FFL Hungry to send relief aid to this most affected region.

• This is one of the worst hit cities by the earthquake
• It is remote, no water, no electricity.
• It is also winter, presently -5 at night, +8 during the day. Snow expected.
• Light hours presently 10hrs 40 mins.
• Access by road is difficult, and the local sea port is not accessible – the port of Iskenderun was on fire as a result of the the earthquake.
• It is a declared emergency / danger zone, where only registered aid organizations can enter – we have obtained full permissions.
• The whole area is guarded by the army for security.

The Lotus Trust has teamed up with FFL Hungary and FFL Turkey – initial set of volunteers, including cooks and co-ordinators have already left to the Hatay on Friday 10th February.

The DSV Freight company has given the volunteers, use of a 26ton truck, along with a designated driver, as well a people carrier vehicle for our relief work.

The team has taken a fully loaded truck with food stuffs, water, cooking equipment, and a seperate people carrier from Istanbul to Hatay / Antakya city.
As there is no accommodation there, volunteers are sleeping in the truck with the equipment and raw foodstuffs. Arrangements are being made for their safety, heating and hygiene.

The government agency is telling relief organizations entering Hatay that they should prepare for only 5-7 days work, as the conditions are very austere. After that period, we plan to reinforce with new sets of volunteers and replenish raw food stuffs.

Our mission is to provide relief by way of distributing hot meals to 800-1200 people a day to the survivors of the quake. We will be distributing hot tea and water along with hot food. We will look to scale up the efforts overtime.

Join “The Lotus Trust” to Help the surviving victims of this human disaster in Turkey and Syria during their critical time of need.