Turkey's 23 Aid Truckloads Leave to Lebanon From Mersin

LBAWBA - A ship carrying 23 truckloads of humanitarian aid to Lebanon left Türkiye’s southern Mersin province on Wednesday according to Anadolu.

This is the fourth ship so far to carry aid from Turkey to the struggling Lebanese so far this year. The 23-truck fleet is carrying 512 tons of food prepared and coordinated by the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) under the directions of the President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Deputy Governor of the Turkish southern Mersin Province Ibrahim Kucuk said this ship is the fourth sent as part of an aid campaign to Lebanon according to the Turkish news agency. 

Kucuk pointed out that he hoped this aid will go some way to serving the needs of the Lebanese people.

Since late 2019, Lebanon has been grappling with a severe economic crisis that got much worse during the Covid-19 pandemic creating soaring prices of goods, scarcity in commodities, shortages in fuel, incessant power cuts, medical shortages and mass depreciation of the currency with 27,000 Lebanese pounds to the dollar and fluctuating.   

The Lebanese currency has lost 90% of its value, eroding people’s ability to access basic goods, including food, water, health care, and education, while widespread power outages are common due to fuel shortages.

Almost 80% of Lebanon’s population now lives under the poverty line, with 36% in extreme poverty, according to UN estimates.