Minnesota non-profit helps with emergency response after Turkey-Syria earthquake

Collapsing buildings, giant piles of rubble, and heroic rescues.

“What we have seen, it’s something unpredictable,” says Roy Moussali, the executive director of Questscope, a global humanitarian non-profit. “Waking up at four in the morning, with the whole building shaking.”

This is the new reality, in the aftermath of a 7.8-magnitude earthquake that stretched hundreds of miles across southeastern Turkey and neighboring Syria, killing thousands.

“It’s not only the destroyed buildings, but also the lack of resources,” explains Muthanna Khriesat, Questscope’s CEO. “Lack of rescue teams, lack of rescue equipment, and the lack of water, we also have to take care of.”

For seven years, Khriesat and his family have called Minnesota home.

But now, he’s back in his native country Jordan, trying to help those suffering in Syria.

“Yesterday, we opened up three shelters, and now we are hosting 1,000 people in those shelters, providing them with essential things,” Khriesat says. “We are blessed with what we have and to think about our brothers and sisters, that they have nothing. They are freezing cold, with no support and no shelter, with all the trauma they are facing.”

Clothes, blankets, food, and water are desperately needed, Khriesat notes.

Questscope is teaming up with Alight, the Minnesota-based humanitarian organization — which is providing fundraising and tech support, and helping to build temporary shelters.

The bitterly cold weather in the region is not helping.

“We have freezing temperatures, and it has been snowing in some parts of Aleppo, so it was very cold, no food, no shelter,” Moussali declares. “So there is a need for heating, there is no fuel, very little fuel, no power. We only have one hour of electricity per day.”

Moussali is in charge of about 1,400 Questscope staffers — all Syrians — and about 3,000 volunteers.

He says the country’s 12-year civil war has exacted a heavy price on Aleppo.

Beyond the widespread destruction to the city buildings and infrastructure, there’s been a cholera outbreak, massive water shortages — and now, an earthquake.

“We are called to have empathy and compassion for each other, and this is what’s happening in the humanitarian community here,” Moussali says. “Everyone is working for the common good.”

Alight is calling this an open-ended mission, with thousands of buildings either damaged or destroyed.

Among the most urgent needs, Moussali says, is heavy duty equipment to lift pieces of concrete and free people who are trapped under all that rubble.

For his part, Khriesat says he’s planning to travel to Syria next week.

He’s already thinking about the challenges that lay ahead.

“Moving forward, we have to deal with bigger problems, we have to think about the trauma with kids, with the people who have lost their families,” Khriesat says. “Also, we have to think about home repairs and people not spending their lives in those shelters. We have to see what kind of plans we will have to send them back home and put them back into their houses.”

You can find out more information about Alight here.

More information about Questscope is available here.