At the Angelus, the Pope invited us to continue “to stay close” and to offer “concrete support for the populations affected by the earthquake in Syria and Turkey”. “This catastrophe, this pain of these peoples who are suffering from the earthquake”, commented Pope Francis. “Let us pray for them, let us not forget this, let us pray and think about what we can do for them”.
The Pope’s call to concretely help the victims of the earthquake comes close to the numerous invitations from the Catholic Church to mobilize for the collection of aid and, above all, for the end of the sanctions currently affecting Syria. In the next few days the Italian churches will see a special collection to help the coplites. “Obviously the suspension of sanctions – comments Paolo Beccegato, deputy director of Italian Caritas, responsible for the international area – is good news”. After mapping the needs of the earthquake victims, Caritas Syria is operating between Latakia and Aleppo to bring support to the displaced people they have found in the various reception centers set up by the authorities and humanitarian agencies operating on site.
In Aleppo, according to what SIR learned, Caritas Syria is distributing food, water, mattresses and blankets thanks also to the help of volunteers from the Emergency Response Unit of Caritas Lebanon. Among the centers served is also that of the Abdul Majeed mosque located in the Karm Al-Jabal district (Aleppo). Caritas Syria operators are also at work in the governorate of Tartous and in Latakia, an important Syrian coastal city. It also activates blood donation within Caritas mobile clinics. «If we look at the number of displaced persons, there are around 75,000 in Turkey and 5 million in Syria. This fact makes you think a lot. It is clear that the data relating to the dead in Syria is abundantly underestimated because the fact remains that many of the areas, as well as in Turkey, have not yet been completely reached, such as the many villages and the many areas, especially those in areas controlled by rebels in war zones. During these long 12 years of war, the northern area of Turkey has gone from about 1 million to 4 million in population, this makes us understand the density, here all this remains very worrying”.
«The official collection of the Italian Church is scheduled for Sunday 26 March, the fifth of Lent. The CEI – concludes Beccegato – has mobilized at the highest level by allocating funds. Caritas Syria and Caritas Turkey are active in the area. Nearby Caritas, such as Caritas Lebanon, send groups of volunteers, we have operators who are distributing humanitarian supplies, welcoming displaced people in churches, structures, setting up canteens. In short, maximum effort in this phase of the very first emergency in view of the very long work for reconstruction”.