GEBKİM Chemical Specialized OIZ Joins Earthquake Relief Mobilization

GEBKİM Chemical Specialised Industrial Zone Mobilises for Earthquake Relief Kocaeli, a city that knows the pain and destruction of earthquakes firsthand, mobilised through GEBKİM Kimya İhtisas OSB from the first day of the disaster. GEBKİM OSB, which sent search and rescue teams along with technical equipment and machinery to the region in the initial hours, rapidly transported food, water, winter clothing, medical supplies, cleaning and hygiene products, portable toilets, stoves and tents to earthquake victims by lorry. Shipments of containers, tents and wooden houses for shelter, among the most urgent needs in earthquake-affected areas, continue. GEBKİM OSB, which stands alongside earthquake victims according to decisions made and needs identified at meetings held under the leadership of the Ministry of Industry and Technology, continues its cash and in-kind assistance to earthquake zones in close communication and coordination with Kocaeli Governor Seddar Yavuz in Kahramanmaraş where the earthquake occurred and Kocaeli Metropolitan Mayor Tahir Büyükakın in Hatay Defne. GEBKİM initially dispatched nearly 20 search and rescue support teams, a 5-person specialist search and rescue team from GEBKİM OSB Fire Department, and a GEBKİM OSB health worker for first aid and medical interventions in the earthquake zone. The GEBKİM OSB team, sent to the region with all technical equipment that might be needed during rescue operations as well as comprehensive equipment such as generators, breakers and cutting tools, worked tirelessly with teams on the ground to rescue lives trapped under rubble. Medicines and medical supplies were delivered to the region along with a GEBKİM health worker. Working in coordination with GEBKİM teams, the health worker also visited villages to provide necessary medicines and health services to citizens affected by the earthquake. From the first hours of the earthquake, GEBKİM relief lorries carrying urgently needed materials were rapidly dispatched to the regions. Along with food, water, winter clothing, hygiene products, blankets, beds, bunks, stoves and cookers, portable toilets and shower cabins—among the most critical needs—and additional tents for earthquake victims' immediate shelter, numerous containers for long-term housing needs were dispatched to the region by more than 15 lorries. While GEBKİM Kimya İhtisas OSB continues the production and installation of wooden bungalow houses and container homes sent to Hatay Antakya, work on the first phase is targeted for completion in the near term. Container and bungalow homes are being designed with necessary provisions to ensure that earthquake victims whose homes were damaged or rendered unusable in the earthquake have warm and healthy shelter.

GEBKİM vocational school students producing for earthquake victim brothers and sisters

Teachers and students from GEBKİM MTAL, brought into education by the GEBKİM Education, Research and Health Foundation established by GEBKİM industrialists to develop qualified personnel for the chemical sector, also became part of this mobilisation. At the Pilot Production Facility of GEBKİM Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School, hygiene products such as hand soap, disinfectant and bleach are being produced for shipment to earthquake-affected regions. Under the leadership of GEBKİM Kimya İhtisas OSB and GEBKİM Foundation, industrialists joining forces will continue and increase their assistance to earthquake-affected regions in the coming period, particularly for housing and other needs.