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Order of Malta Australia

News

Malteser International: One Hundred Operations Carried Out Since the Earthquake in Syria

09/02/2023 


Malteser International is currently supporting six hospitals, a maternity and children hospital as well as eight primary health care units in the regions of Idlib and North Aleppo in northwestern Syria. The aid projects in the Syrian border region are managed from Türkiye. Oliver Hochedez, Head of Emergency Relief of Malteser International, is in constant exchange with the partners in northwestern Syria who care for the people affected by the earthquake.

“Fortunately, the hospitals we are supporting in northwestern Syria are only slightly damaged and fully operational, but there is a shortage of medical supplies, first aid kits, trauma kits and medicine. The doctors, who are working in the hospitals supported by us in northwestern Syria, have been working at their limits since Monday morning. Even before the quake, healthcare for the people in this region was critical. Now the many people who are injured have been added to this. One hundred additional operations have been performed since the earthquake,” reports Oliver Hochedez, who is coordinating the relief efforts from the Turkish border town of Kilis with his emergency response team – flown in from Malteser International headquarters in Cologne on Wednesday.

The need for medical care is enormous: orthopedic aids are of particular importance for the many injured. “We are working at full speed to procure the required goods as quickly as possible. In Syria, this is still possible via the local markets,” says Hochedez.

Moreover, two trucks with a total of 10 tons of relief supplies, such as beds, tents, blankets and mattresses for the affected people in Türkiye, are going out today from Hanover and Speyer in Germany. Additional transport is already in preparation. The distribution of these relief goods will be done by local organizations in Türkiye on site.

Donations to assist those imapcted by the earthquake in Türkiye and Syria  can be made to our Emergency Relief  Fund. Gifts $2 and more are tax deductible for Australian taxpayers.

Malteser International (MI) works as an international humanitarian aid organization. It is an aid organization of the Catholic Order of Malta and particularly fulfills the order’s mission of “helping those in need”. The mission is to improve the health and living conditions of suffering and displaced people worldwide. The organization provides aid to people in need in over 140 projects in 35 countries, regardless of religion, political persuasion, origin or gender. Christian values and the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence form the basis of its work. Further information: www.malteser-international.org

The Australian Association

The Australian Association, formed in 1974, currently has in excess of 300 members and aspirant members across every State and Territory of Australia. We also have ongoing and strong links with the Order’s National Associations throughout the Asia Pacific Region including in Singapore and the Philippines and with members of the Order in New Zealand, Hong Kong SAR, Thailand and Korea. The Order of Malta is committed to serving Our Lords the Poor and Sick worldwide and has done so for over 900 years. This website shares with you the history, mission and current activities of the Order of Malta in Australia, and provides links to the work of the Order world-wide.