Japanese Society Aids Quake-Affected in Turkey

The Yomiuri Shimbun

18:08 JST, February 8, 2023

Japanese groups who have links to people in areas affected by Monday’s earthquake that hit southeastern Turkey and northern Syria have expressed concerns for their friends.

As of Tuesday, Piece of Syria, an Osaka-based nonprofit organization that supports a school giving supplementary education to Syrian refugee children in Gaziantep, southern Turkey, could not confirm information on the safety of about 250 children. The children are 6 to 15 and had attended the school.

“We just hope the children are safe,” said Takayuki Nakano, representative director of the NPO. “We want to start providing support to affected children and their families as soon as possible.”

The Turkish Cultural Center, an Osaka-based group of people from the country, set up a donation box on Tuesday at its facility. In addition, 20% of proceeds mainly from language classes operated by the group will be donated this month to the disaster-hit people.

The town government of Kushimoto, Wakayama Prefecture, also set up donation boxes at four locations such as the town hall on Tuesday. Kushimoto has kept good relations with Turkey after the warship Ertugrul that was carrying a delegation to Japan from the Ottoman Empire, which ruled what is now Turkey, ran aground in 1890 on a reef off the town. Some of those aboard were rescued through the efforts of local people.