Generous Dundonians have donated hundreds of items for Turkey and Syria as part of the earthquake relief effort.
Food, blankets, jackets, nappies and sleeping bags are just some of the goods packed into two vans headed for Edinburgh where a container there will be sent to the region next week.
Large areas in south eastern Turkey and northern Syria have been left devastated by the 7.8 quake on February 6 and subsequent aftershocks.
At least 44,000 people have died with this figure expected to climb further.
More than 345,000 apartments are known to have been destroyed in Turkey alone, leaving scores homeless.
It has also directly impacted locals including a Syrian refugee in Dundee who is desperately trying to help numerous members of his family left homeless in the city of Kahramanmaras.
Locals quick to help those affected in Syria and Turkey
The collection effort in Dundee and the surrounding area has been co-ordinated by the World Care Foundation with drop offs at A1 Car Wash on East Dock Street.
Vali Hussein, a project co-ordinator with the World Care Foundation, says the kind-heartedness of locals has been “amazing”.
He said: “There’s a lot going on for people just now and many are really struggling.
“Despite that, people have seen what’s happening in the news and want to be part of the humanitarian effort.
“Volunteers have also been working hard to organise all the donations with some even taking time off work to make sure everything is ready.
“The response from the community has been amazing. Everyone has put in so much effort to ensure the whole appeal has been organised successfully.”
Rescue efforts in Turkey and Syria
Rescue efforts in the region have been mostly called off although remarkably, three people were pulled from rubble last week, 11 days after the natural disaster struck.
To make matters worse, yet another quake hit the area on Monday bringing several already-damaged buildings down and killing at least another six people.
Vali, a 49-year-old local imam, says the charity had one of the first international teams on the ground in the countries.
One thing they noticed, he said, was that the relief effort in Syria has been significantly hampered by the ongoing civil war there.
He said: “News soon filtered through from them that not much aid was getting through to parts of Syria.
“We are making sure some of these goods are going there too.
“We have people in Syria and Turkey who will keep us updated on when it all arrives.”
The goods will be handed over to teams based in the two countries on arrival while money donated by locals is also being filtered through to the humanitarian effort.
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