6 months on from the first earthquakes, DEC Chief Executive Saleh Saeed travelled to Turkey to visit projects being supported by the Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal, featured in a report from ITV News. 

Whilst there, the team visited projects being run by DEC charities Save The Children, Concern and International Rescue Committee (IRC). 

The projects have been helping provide local people with essential aid, such as clean water, food and hygiene products. 

Violet Organisation are a humanitarian charity based in Turkey and Syria, and local partner of DEC charity Action Aid receiving funds through our appeal.

Recently, their founder Fouad Sayed Issa spoke to Channel 4 News about Violets work, the challenges still faced by people in Turkey & Syria, as well as his own personal experience with the earthquakes. 

Action Aid and Violet have been using DEC funds to provide essential aid to people in northwest Syria, including food, clean water and mental health support of those affected. 

Donations to the Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal have reached £151.8 million, six months on from the the earthquakes across southern Turkey and northwest Syria. The total includes £5 million matched by the UK Government through the Aid Match scheme.

DEC Chief Executive Saleh Saeed recently visited DEC-funded projects in Gaziantep, southern Turkey, visiting DEC funded projects and meeting people affected by the earthquakes.

He said: "It’s clear that it will be a very long road to recovery from this terrible disaster, but we met so many people in Turkey who wanted us to thank the British public and all who have supported them through the DEC. Thank you to everyone who has donated, we are all incredibly grateful.”

The Independent has reported that a convoy carrying U.N. aid has entered Syria's last rebel-held enclave from government-held territory. 

This is the first time a shipment of aid from the U.N. has crossed lines since the earthquakes in hit Syria in February.

The convoy with humanitarian supplies crossed from a government-controlled area in the province of Aleppo, and entered Idlib, according to the U.N. office for humanitarian affairs (OCHA). 

The BBC's Middle East correspondent, Anna Foster, recently traveled to Idlib in Northern Syria to meet survivors living in the area, months after the earthquakes struck.

She interviewed Ali, who has been living in tent with his two daughter since the earthquake struck, he said:

"Life right now is very difficult. Living in tents is miserable, but we thank Allah that we are alive," 

In north-west Syria around 60% of people in the region affected by the February earthquakes were already displaced.

DEC charities and their local partners have been working since the first earthquake struck and are helping people on both sides of the border of Turkey and Syria despite the ongoing challenges.

They have been providing tents, warm clothing and heaters, hot meals, clean water and medical care.  

A new report from Emily Retter, Feature Editor at The Daily Mirror, showcases the stories of families affected by the earthquakes. 

Reporting from locations around southern Turkey, families recall stories of saving loved ones from the rubble following the earthquakes.

Quoted in the report was Andy Buchanan, country director for Turkey at DEC charity Concern Worldwide. Concern Worldwide worked to provided water tanks to support people in the area after the earthquakes struck.

A new report from Fundanur Ozturk, Berza Simsek, reporting for BBC News in Turkey, tells the story of people still searching for loved ones, 7 weeks after the deadly earthquakes hit the region. 

There is no official figure for the number of missing people across Turkey following the earthquakes, however nearly 2,000 unaccompanied children have been rescued from under the rubble and registered with the authorities, according to official figures provided by the Ministry of Family and Social Affairs.

DEC charities are continuing to work in Turkey and Northern Syria to suppose those affected by the earthquakes, providing medical treatment, shelter, psychological support and more. 

"For me, this community kitchen provides us with security, because we know we're getting hot food at a certain time every day and aid on a regular basis," says one 20-year-old Turkish man who has been staying in the tents and using the kitchen since the earthquake.

DEC charity Action Against Hunger is providing 3,000 meals a day for earthquake survivors.