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Canada is prioritizing visas for victims of the devastating earthquakes that hit Turkey and Syria final month, as a whole lot of hundreds have been made homeless.
Greater than 3,000 individuals from Turkey and Syria have entered the nation because the Feb. 6 earthquakes, in keeping with information shared by the Canada Border Companies Company (CBSA) with International Information this week.
It’s not clear if all those that got here between Feb. 6 and 26 have been straight impacted by the earthquakes.
As of Sunday, a complete of two,220 travellers from Turkey and 881 from neighbouring Syria had arrived in Canada, CBSA stats confirmed.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada mentioned it’s “giving precedence to affected people for short-term resident, everlasting resident and refugee functions.”
“We’re monitoring the scenario and can modify our strategy accordingly,” an IRCC spokesperson informed International Information in an emailed assertion.
As of Feb. 8, there have been near 16,000 candidates — beneath evaluation or finalized — in Turkey and Syria, IRCC mentioned.
Of those, roughly 1,700 candidates for everlasting and short-term residence have been throughout the zone impacted by the earthquakes.
The earthquake in Turkey had “no impression or delay on utility processing,” the company confirmed.
It has been greater than three weeks since a pair of large earthquakes, hours aside, shook Turkey and Syria, killing greater than 50,000 individuals and injuring many extra.
Tens of hundreds are nonetheless lacking within the area, in keeping with the United Nations.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has pledged to rebuild houses inside a 12 months however will probably be many months earlier than hundreds can swap tents or containers and queues for meals handouts for everlasting housing.
For the reason that Feb. 6 tragedy, contemporary earthquakes and hundreds of aftershocks have rocked the area over the previous three weeks.
Turkey and Syria have been hit by another powerful quake of 6.4 magnitude on Feb. 20, killing at the very least six individuals.
One other on Monday of magnitude 5.6 shook southeast Turkey, killing one particular person and inflicting additional harm.
Canada has already pledged $50 million in humanitarian help and matching donations to help earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria.
“After going through one of the vital devastating pure disasters to hit the area, it’s our responsibility as a authorities to make sure that Canada is there to deliver much-needed help to the individuals of Türkiye and Syria,” International Affairs Minister Melanie Joly mentioned in an announcement final Friday.
“We are going to proceed to face with the individuals of Türkiye and Syria throughout this troublesome time and can present emergency help to assist the 2 international locations get well.”
Governments and humanitarian organizations all over the world are serving to with aid efforts, with rescue groups and emergency help being despatched to the area.
Particular person Canadians can help, too, by donating.
The Canadian government has a website devoted to serving to individuals sleuth out charity scams. The Canada Income Company has a registered charities database that can be utilized to make sure your donation goes to an actual charitable group.
Listed below are some dependable organizations which can be at present gathering funds to assist in Turkey and Syria:
— with information from International Information’ Rachel Gilmore, Reuters and The Related Press
© 2023 International Information, a division of Corus Leisure Inc.
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