On the morning of February 6, the world awoke to the news of a catastrophic earthquake of 7.8 magnitude having struck southern and central Turkey and western Syria. On Thursday, February 9, at the time of writing, the death toll had been raised to almost 17,000 people, and at least 24 million had been affected. Many of the world's governments have sent support, including a cohort of search and rescue dogs and their handlers from Mexico, a team of 77 firefighters from the UK, and disaster relief teams from agencies globally.

Logistics and financial support

The international community is rallying in many other ways. This naturally includes NGOs, but some airlines are also doing their part to contribute to disaster relief efforts. For instance, Turkish leisure carrier Pegasus has launched free relief flights, and flag carrier Turkish Airlines has set a nominal fee of about $5 for tickets out of the affected areas.

On Thursday, Delta Air Lines announced it would contribute $100,000 to the American Red Cross in support of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) response.

The airline is also encouraging its customers to support this effort through a dedicated site for public support, to be found via this link. Those outside of the US wishing to add their contributions may do so via the website for the IFRC.

Delta's contributions (this includes those made by Delta people, customers, and others) are used for humanitarian relief efforts, including the following from the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies:

• Supporting search and rescue operations
• Providing first aid
• Performing emergency medical evacuations
• Transporting injured people to hospitals
• Providing hot meals and basic aid items (such as tents and blankets) for those injured and evacuated
• Providing psychological support
• Sending blood and plasma to the affected regions

Tad Hutcheson, Delta's Managing Director of Community Engagement, commented,

"The most important way to help is through financial giving, as the American Red Cross and the IFCRC have the resources and infrastructure to obtain and deliver goods, supplies and trained volunteers to the places and people that need it most."

Partnering with the Red Cross for 80 years

The American Red Cross is Delta's longest-standing NGO partner, with a relationship that began as early as 1941. The $100,000 toward disaster relief in Turkey and Syria is in addition to the carrier's $1 million grant to the American Red Cross as an Annual Disaster Giving Program partner. Delta has also lent additional assistance over the years to hurricane relief in the US, earthquakes in Haiti, and organizing blood drives.