Updates are done as soon as received, throughout the day;
please bookmark this page.

If you want to help:
please make a monetary donation to
LOVE TURKEY
c/o HighPoint Community Services Association
38 Amber Road, Singapore 439877

Hotline: (65) 370-7313
With effect from 6 Sep 99, TOUCH Community Services
International (TCSI) will be manning the "Love Turkey" hotline
and forming future relief teams.

• Team Six leaves for Turkey tonight. It comprises 2 nurses, 3 doctors, 2 medics, one pharmacist, 4 businessmen and 4 relief workers, a total of 17.

• The businessmen will approach the Turkish government officials to apply for permits to build pre-fabricated homes for the survivors / homeless.

• Moderate quake hits western Turkey, measuring 5 on the Richter scale. It was centered in Tekirdag, west of Istanbul.

• Team Five carries a proposal for low-cost pre-fab housing for World Relief's (the international organisation that Love Turkey has tied up with) perusal. Team Six will go with a sample model on 22 Sep if local authorities agree to the concept.

• Team Five will continue to run the free medical clinic. It will also run some children's programmes for the kids who love to hang around the tents.

• Team Five leaves for Turkey tonight. The 17-member team consists 2 doctors, 7 nurses, one Medical Technician, one children's worker and 6 relief workers.

• Another aftershock, the third one since the 17 August quake, hit Izmit. It measured 5.8, resulting in over 200 injured, 6 of them fatal.

• Team Three returned safely today.

• Team Four has arrived safely and started work.

• The weather is turning cold, thus increasing the urgency to shelter the many homeless before the onslaught of winter.

• Team Four left for Turkey last night with 3 relief workers, 2 doctors, 2 nurses and 1 pharmacist. The pharmacist will organise the medical supplies and clinics.

• Volunteers, especially healthcare personnel and other suitably-qualified people, are still required. Please call Nancy Loh, tel: 370-7313.

• Containers, instead of tents, will be used to house the homeless in Derince as Turkey approaches winter.

• LOCAL DESIGNER SALE to raise funds for Turkey:

  Date: 10 to 12 September 1999
  Place: The Heeren (Foyer) (Orchard Road)
  Time: 10.00 a.m. to 10.30 p.m.
  Target: $50,000 at least

  Various designer clothes, shoes and bags will go for $5 onwards (cash only). For more information, please call Ms Sandra Lim of Touch Arts, tel: 440-1733. Organised by HighPoint Community Services Association and Touch Community Services.

• Teams One and Two have returned to Singapore safely, touching down at 3.00+ this afternoon.

• Team Three, together with the mayor of Derince and the local authorities, are distributing food supplies to the people in the area.

• The medical clinics see about 200 people daily. Medical volunteers and specific supplies are still needed.

• Team Four leaves for Turkey on 7 September to supplement Team Three, whose medical personnel returns to Singapore on 9 September.

• Team Three leaves tonight, bringing with them more than 580 cartons of supplies and medicine for the victims.

• Base Camp, set up by Team One a week ago, is located in Derince (pronounced as 'dare-rin-jay'), an area of Izmit that has not received much help.

• HighPoint Community Services Association is no longer accepting material supplies (food, clothing, etc) for Love Turkey, with the exception of medicine. Monetary contributions are still solicited (see "If you want to help" above).

Red, blue, yellow ... plastic Coca-Cola cartons are 'home' for this Turkish family. (photo courtesy of HighPoint)

Two Turkish women salvage a mattress from the rubble that was once home. (photo courtesy of HighPoint)

• Rain is hindering the relief work among the homeless. It is also causing water-borne diseases to spread because of the lack of proper sewage and sanitation facilities.

HighPoint residents and volunteers work round the clock to pack supplies for Turkey. (photo courtesy of HighPoint)

• FUNDS are needed MOST especially in the near future, so that the peoples affected can started rebuilding their lives and their cities' economies. Please keep your contributions coming.

  HighPoint has obtained a permit from the Commissioner of Charities of Singapore to raise funds for this project.

  Please make your cheque out to LOVE TURKEY and post it to HighPoint Community Services Association, 12 West Coast Walk, West Coast Recreation Centre, Block A #02-01 Singapore 127157. Thank you so much!

• A fresh list of supplies needed (different from earlier lists because of rapidly-changing needs in the field) will be posted on this site as soon as it is available. Please bookmark this page for updates!

Base Camp and the beginnings of a tent city for the homeless. (photo courtesy of HighPoint)

• The teams are going out into the community, led by the mayor of the city, to distribute tents to the homeless.

• A medical team has been given a shophouse to use as a clinic, while another medical team is providing medical care at the base camp.

• Team Three leaves for Turkey on Monday night, 30 August. Team members, numbering 16, comprises 4 nurses, 3 doctors, 2 specialised relief workers, 1 paramedic, 1 medical student and 5 relief workers.

• Team Two has arrived safely with their cargo of supplies. They are in good spirits and are headed out to Izmit as well.

• Tremors are still being felt in the quake area.

• A cargo of supplies leave on Friday while a third team leave the following Monday.

• Another TEN volunteers leave for Turkey tonight. The team consists of 5 doctors and 5 relief workers.

• Team One has arrived safely. It is working at Izmit, the epicentre of the earthquake where the devastation was at its worst.

• The following items are URGENTLY REQUIRED. Please send to the Love Turkey Collection Centre at 38 Amber Road (enquiry tel: 773-1300)

- tents for homeless - sleeping bags - portable toilets - latex gloves

- diapers - disposable underwear - sanitary napkins - face (surgical) masks

- baby food - milk powder - non-perishable medicine (not needing refrigeration)

• SIXTEEN volunteers leave for Turkey tonight in the first wave of contribution to the relief effort. Team members comprise doctors, nurses, counsellors and relief workers.

• Hundreds of boxes of food and medical supplies fly tonight as well.

• THANK YOU for all your support through prayer, funds and supplies. Please keep them coming! Contributions are still sought - the biggest need being medicine, blankets, tents, sleeping bags and canned food (non-pork items).

• Please make cheques out to LOVE TURKEY. Postal addresses remain the same.

• The Supplies Collection Centre at 38 Amber Road is open daily from 9.00 am to 10.30 pm.

• Death-toll reaches 10,000. Cholera epidemic breaks out among survivors.

• The first multi-national team of 10 relief workers leave Singapore for Turkey on Monday with over 400 boxes of supplies including $30,000 worth of medication.

Since 20 Aug 1999; 0100 hrs