Türkiye woke up to a disastrous natural calamity on Monday, February 6, 2023. A 7.8 magnitude earthquake centred in Pazarcık district of Kahramanmaraş, located in the east of Turkey followed by another tremor of magnitude of 7.5 centred in Elbistan district of Kahramanmaraş that shook the whole region while the jolt was felt hundreds of kilometres away up until Ankara. These two major earthquakes that jolted both Türkiye and Syria caused devastation in at least 10 cities and affected around 13.5 million people on both sides. 

The government and civil society have showed utmost resilience during this need of the hour. In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake that is the worst of its kind in last 2 decades, the Government of Türkiye established coordination for emergency aid and has been performing humanitarian relief work to rescue people trapped under wreckage and provide aid and shelter to the ones who have lost homes. ILKE Foundation for Science Culture and Education and its associations are contributing their part shoulder to shoulder with the resilient civil society of Turkiye that has transported tonnes of support to the affected areas already.

The scale of destruction is way more than it was initially estimated. The relief work continues and thousands of people trapped under the collapsed structures as well as stranded in open are in need of prayers of fellow Muslims living in all parts of the world.