SNF supports ongoing recovery from earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria

Two male doctors talk to a little boy holding his hand over rubble

The devastating earthquakes that hit Turkey and Syria in February, killing tens of thousands and injuring many more, directly affected an estimated 26 million people. Many of these people were already in need of assistance, facing interlinked challenges related to conflict, displacement, and disease. Months later, the need for aid remains strong, and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) has made grants to four organizations working on the ground with local populations in the region to help meet essential needs like mental and physical health care.

“While it’s tempting to move on from a disaster once the news cycle does, that doesn’t mean the critical needs on the ground have been met, doesn’t mean that the lives upended have righted themselves,” said the SNF Program Officers involved in making the grants. “We are very thankful for the work of these four organizations, all of which take a long view toward rebuilding in their response while acting with the urgency this emergency demands and working collaboratively in local communities.”

The four grantees are all organizations with which SNF has partnered in the past:

Médicos del Mundo is operating a mobile clinic in Hama, Syria, to provide emergency care to people affected by the earthquakes while also assessing the needs of primary health centers in Aleppo.

Doctors Without Borders is providing supplies and staff to medical facilities, setting up mobile clinics, supporting ambulances, offering psychological services, and delivering essential goods and sanitation infrastructure in northwest Syria.

Choose Love is partnering with local groups working in their communities to address critical needs for vulnerable populations in Syria created or exacerbated by the earthquakes, including by providing mental health and psychosocial support.

Save the Children UK is working to ensure that children and families in Turkey have access to food, water, shelter, and mental health support, as well as to improve sanitation and safety, by distributing supplies from diapers to tents to firewood and operating three mobile health clinics.

Responding to natural disasters and other crises, wherever in the world they strike, has been an important part of SNF’s grantmaking work from the beginning.