MÜSİAD President Mahmut Asmalı, who moved to the region following the severe earthquakes centred on Kahramanmaraş, said that MÜSİAD had swiftly taken action through the Crisis Desk it had set up in order to heal the wounds. Speaking in Kahramanmaraş, President Asmalı said: "Today is the day to be united, the day to be together."
The Independent Industrialists and Businessmen Association (MÜSİAD) took action after the severe earthquakes centred on Kahramanmaraş that caused great destruction in a total of 10 provinces. Rapidly setting up a Crisis Desk after the earthquake, MÜSİAD mobilized all its resources from the very first moment the earthquake struck. MÜSİAD teams, which sought to meet swiftly the information and requests coming from the disaster region by coordinating their domestic and international branches as well through the Crisis Desk established, sent basic necessities, food aid and construction machinery to many areas for use in search and rescue operations.
Stating that they had matched all their domestic branches with the 10 provinces affected by the earthquake, MÜSİAD President Mahmut Asmalı said that they had formed emergency aid teams responsible for each province. Emphasizing that, under the coordination of the MÜSİAD Crisis Desk and in line with the needs of the citizens affected by the earthquake, more than 500 trucks, logistics support vehicles and pieces of construction machinery carrying more than 2,000 basic necessities and food items prepared with the contributions of MÜSİAD members had been dispatched to the region, President Asmalı said that a large part of this aid had reached the disaster region and that the construction machinery had begun search and rescue operations. President Asmalı also reported that 100 caravans had been made available for the use of citizens affected by the earthquake and that prefabricated structures prepared by member companies would also be dispatched to the region.
Sharing his assessments in Kahramanmaraş, President Asmalı said: "We are going through an extraordinary situation. Our country is undergoing a great test. As MÜSİAD, we could not remain indifferent to such a painful event. We are trying to do all we can for the people of the region. Today is the day to be united, the day to be together."
MÜSİAD President Mahmut Asmalı continued his remarks as follows:
"Together with our domestic branches, we matched our 10 provinces with our other provinces. With all our units — may God be pleased with them — we are mobilized for food aid, for construction machinery and for other assistance alike. In Kahramanmaraş we followed developments on the ground at first hand. We are going through an extraordinary situation. Our country is undergoing a great test. As MÜSİAD, we could not remain indifferent to such a painful event. We set up a crisis team at our Head Office and declared a full mobilization together with our domestic and international branches. Our crisis team distributes the information and requests coming from the disaster region to all our branches in line with the needs. God willing, we will overcome this process all together. It is a very difficult situation. We cannot bring back those we have lost, but at the very least, with timely intervention, we can be a remedy for the troubles of our injured and of those left behind. Most importantly, there are the people of the region who are experiencing great trauma. At the same time, cold weather prevails here. Therefore we must stand by the people of our region. We too are trying to do all we can. May God help us all and protect our nation. Today is the day to be united, the day to be together."
