World Jewish Relief launches Turkey emergency earthquake appeal
search

The latest Jewish News

Read this week’s digital edition

Click Here

World Jewish Relief launches Turkey emergency earthquake appeal

A massive earthquake hit both Turkey and Syria, leaving more than 1,700 dead with numbers expected to rise. Here's how you can help.

Civil defense workers and residents search through the rubble of collapsed buildings in the town of Harem near the Turkish border, Idlib province, Syria, Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Civil defense workers and residents search through the rubble of collapsed buildings in the town of Harem near the Turkish border, Idlib province, Syria, Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

The Jewish community’s leading humanitarian agency has launched an emergency fundraising appeal to support those effected by a devastating earthquake today in Turkey.

This morning a 7.8 magnitude earthquake, a second 7.5 magnitude earthquake, and powerful aftershocks hit southeast of the country as well as neighbouring Syria. An estimated 12 million people have been affected, with thousands killed and many thousand more injured as homes and buildings completely collapsed. With search and rescue missions underway, these numbers will continue to rise.

World Jewish Relief is responding through a trusted local partner, helping to provide emergency shelter, blankets, heaters, clothes, food packages and first aid kits to the worst affected in Turkey and surrounding areas.

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said: “The tragic earthquakes in Turkey on Monday morning will have an ongoing, devastating impact for Turkey and well beyond its borders. I encourage all who are able, to generously support World Jewish Relief’s Turkey Earthquake Appeal.”

Rabbi Charley Baginsky, Liberal Judaism said: “Liberal Judaism are always so proud to support World Jewish Relief. We know with confidence that they will ensure that support reaches the places that need it. Right now the people of Turkey need more than our prayers, they need practical and financial response from our community, a community that understands that our particularistic Judaism calls on us to see the universal and to help repair the world in whatever ways we can.”

Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg, Masorti Judaism said: “The disaster which has overtaken so many people in Turkey is unimaginable. In Temple times the High Priest prayed on Yom Kippur that people should not suffer the horror of earthquakes. How can we not do all we can to help! This emergency appeal by World Jewish Relief enables us to show the most basic humanity and do what help we can.”

You can donate today at Turkey Earthquake Appeal

Support your Jewish community. Support your Jewish News

Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.

For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.

Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.

You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.

100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...

Engaging

Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.

Celebrating

There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.

Pioneering

In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.

Campaigning

Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.

Easy access

In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.

Voice of our community to wider society

The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.

We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.

read more: