44 dead, 334 injured, 340 houses destroyed, 246 places of work inaccessible: that is the provisional balance sheet of the earthquake that struck Turkey on Sunday, 3 February. The quake, magnitude six on the Richter scale, had its epicentre in the village of Bovadin, in the region of Afyon and was followed by some 500 after-shocks. It was also felt in the central zone and in the north-west of the country as far as Ankara, 300 km to the east of Afyon. Turkish Caritas, which now has some thirty volunteers actively involved in the localities struck by the quake, immediately got in touch with the Government’s crisis centre and is participating in the various meetings together with the local authorities and the other international organizations to coordinate aid. A first shipment of aid by Caritas to the stricken zones has already been made. It consists in large part of medical equipment and supplies. According to Turkish Caritas, “ many humanitarian non-governmental organizations are taking steps to bring emergency aid to the stricken populations. The Red Cross has provided 2480 tents”. “It remains to be seen say the volunteers with some apprehension where the homeless will be housed and who will finance the reconstruction of their destroyed homes”. A message of condolence has been sent by the Pope, who has “entrusted the victims of this disaster to the mercy of God” and expressed “his sympathy to their families, to the many injured and to those close to them”.
