Companies, Individuals Rush to Assist Victims of Earthquakes in Turkey and Syria

[This article has been updated.]​

Companies and individuals are helping in relief efforts after the Feb. 6 earthquakes that killed more than 43,000 people and injured tens of thousands more across Turkey and Syria. Amazon, Apple and Deutsche Telekom all have offered assistance. Individuals in the U.S. and around the world are pitching in, as well. We've gathered articles on the news from trusted media outlets.

Companies' Assistance

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Navigating International Crises

Amazon has prepared donations of relief items, including food, baby food, blankets, tents and medicine, with the first shipments departing from its warehouse in Istanbul Feb. 8, the company said. "This immediate delivery is just the beginning of Amazon's response," said Abe Diaz, head of Amazon's disaster relief program, in a statement.

Deutsche Telekom announced that it had made all calls and text messages from Germany to Turkey and Syria free of charge until Feb. 15. Germany has the world's largest Turkish diasporic community and hosts the third largest refugee population in the world, half of whom are from Syria. The company also is donating approximately $1.1 million to a German alliance of aid groups.

(CNN)

How Individuals Can Help

The first earthquake that hit was one of the strongest in the last century, affecting an area already facing a cholera outbreak and harsh winter weather. Here are some organizations working to help people affected by the earthquakes:

• Syrian American Medical Society.
• UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.
• The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund.
• The White Helmets.
• Turkish Red Crescent.
• International Rescue Committee.
• Save the Children.
• Global Giving.
• Project Hope.
• Humanitarian Relief Foundation.
• Doctors Without Borders.
• Direct Relief.
• CARE.

(Time)

Other Relief Groups

Other relief groups are available, as well, to help the injured and those left homeless in the winter cold. Emergency crews continued increasingly desperate searches for life amid massive heaps of rubble.

(USA Today and The Washington Post)

Earthquakes' Devastation

The earthquakes that razed thousands of buildings were some of the deadliest worldwide in more than a decade, with the deaths surpassing the toll from the 2011 earthquake off Fukushima, Japan, that caused a tsunami and killed more than 18,400.

(CBS News)

Verify Before You Give

For prospective donors, there are several ways to verify that smaller organizations or ones they're unfamiliar with are a worthy cause. In the U.S., CharityWatch and Charity Navigator provide in-depth analysis of charities' finances, governance and levels of transparency. Donors who suspect that any U.S. organizations may be fraudulently soliciting donations can report them to the Justice Department's National Center for Disaster Fraud.

(NBC News)