People and businesses are being urged to donate generators and tents as temperatures plummet in Turkey and Syria where the death toll from Monday's devastating earthquakes topped 21,000.
The North West Turkish Community NWTC, which has opened collection points in Middleton and Trafford Park on Tuesday, today (Friday) said donations made so far had seen plenty of clothes arrive in Turkey.
As temperatures fall in Turkey and Syria, the appeal has changed emphasis - donations are now being sought for generators and gas heaters with electricity cut off from many parts of the disaster zone.
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NWTC is also appealing for new family-sized or winter tents and new blankets.
The chairman of NWTC, Saddleworth businessman Kursat Uysal, 48, told the M.E.N: "There are a lot of injured people and outside its -5 and -10C. It's very cold and snowing. People are burning any wood they can find outside trying to keep warm. A lot of families and people are too scared to go back into buildings.
"It's an area of 15m people covering ten cities."
Any generators which are donated can be second hand but must not have any fuel in them. Kursat explained that, generally, his organisation was only appealing for new items as this speeded up the process of dispatching goods by air.
Meanwhile, a Manchester-based medical charity, UK-MED, has dispatched a team of six to the disaster zone to assess what is needed.
It's warehouse in Stockport is poised to send equipment, including field hospitals, over to Turkey to provide urgent medical assistance. The Manchester Evening News visited the facility with head of logistics, Gemma Blakey, saying they are working rapidly to organise what is needed but that there are many 'challenges' being faced in Turkey.
"It's such a big area so finding out the particular needs are challenging," she said. "There's so much disruption so getting all of the information we need is hard, but we are in communication with the team out there assessing what is needed.
"There are lots of people injured, many are scared to go back to their homes. Many have been left sleeping outside in freezing conditions. A big challenge for us is how huge the area is.
"Once we're able to set up a hospital we can treat more than 100 patients every day and act as a primary care centre, giving out vital medicines. We can act as a stop gap for hospitals that can be overran with critically ill people.
"If this isn't done with infrastructure so damaged diseases can break out, which we are there to try and stop and provide all the care we can give." Gemma added that everything in the warehouse is ready to go and they are constantly checking it now before it is sent off. They work with government agencies in the UK and abroad to keep on top of what is needed the most, and in order to most effectively get it into the country.
"It's vital to know what is actually needed and we've managed to have conversations with the team there to figure that out. It's not helpful forcing support on countries if it's not done properly."
Professor Tony Redmond, who founded the charity, told the MEN that financial donations are the most beneficial so that money can be spent on medical supplies that demand outlines are a necessity. Donations can be made online.
"We have a small team that goes out at first, five people assessing and feeding back to the 70 medics we have on standby at the moment," he continued. "This is a huge and costly operation and we are reliant on the support from the public. The people of Manchester have always been an amazing support of our work, ever since we responded to the earthquake in Armenia in 1988.
"The best thing people can do is give money. People can be confident every penny will go towards directly helping people impacted by a disaster like this. The problem with sending clothing and blankets is that they are expensive to transport and can clog up space needed for vital medical supplies and the packages need to be traced for end to end. If clothing and other supplies are needed, they can be purchased in Turkey."
Anyone who wants to make donations to NWTC can bring them to Senol & Senol Ltd/GOSS Outdoor at Unit C, Canalside North, John Gilbert Way in Trafford Park, M17 1UP (on the estate next to Manchester United football ground N3 Car Park). Donations can also be brought to Gemak UK, Milk-Lab UK building, Sadler Street, Middleton, M24 5UJ.
Alternatively, people with larger items can call Merve Erolon 07534 690257 or Erdal Akcora on07399 460813.
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