The death toll continues to rise hour by hour and has now sadly climbed above 21,000 in both Syria and Türkiye. As the international effort gathers pace in Türkiye, Syria is significantly underserved and remains a serious concern. World Vision has worked rapidly to assess the needs to already-displaced children and communities in the wake of the earthquake and are scaling up our emergency response.

As we approach the end of the first week of emergency relief operations following the devastating earthquake in south-eastern Türkiye and northern Syria, please pray with us for all who have been affected.

Hundreds of thousands of children in Northern Syria are currently stranded outside of their homes and are becoming even more vulnerable to family separation, exploitation and abuse. Children are also at risk of hypothermia as they struggle to survive in freezing temperatures. Children will also be out of school as the buildings are still deemed unsafe. 

The major concerns at the moment are displaced people sleeping wherever they can. People are building fires in oil drums, sleeping outside, sleeping on chairs and in cars, trying to find anywhere that is warm, anywhere except in a building that has the potential to collapse. Buildings and homes remain unstable.

When Typhoon Molave struck in Vietnam, the floods swept away nine-year-old Trân’s home and destroyed her family’s farm – their only source of income. Life got a lot harder for her family who was already below the poverty line. Through the emergency relief response, her family received essentials such as rice, cooking oil, school supplies, warm clothes, and some shelter repair kits to reconstruct their home.

Hope can sprout amid the ruins. A 6.5 magnitude earthquake struck Charice's community creating a disastrous havoc - flattening houses and destroying livelihoods. When she and family thought everything was lost, their abaca plantation helped them restore their lives. 

A silent but deadly and urgent hunger crisis is unfolding in northern Kenya and across the East Africa Region. We often talk about this tragedy through data, but the heartbreaking reality is that every number is a person, and every statistic points to the impact on human life

It is becoming increasingly challenging to know when the next flood or drought will come. Single mothers like Ator in South Sudan are not letting disasters have a final say in their lives. 

Salvador, a father in the Philippines lost his son in Typhoon Goni. "I can still hear him calling me, asking me to save him."