Direct Relief ships 69 tons of medical supplies to Turkey since Feb. 5 earthquakes

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - A Direct Relief-chartered 747 cargo plane is getting ready to depart from Los Angeles to Turkey.

The plane is carrying medical supplies for those recovering from February’s devastating earthquakes.

“It’s really important as this starts to recede in people’s memory … is still a crisis for over 8 million people in Syria," said president and CEO Thomas Tighe of Direct Relief.

Upon arrival, the 166-pallet shipment will be loaded onto trucks and driven across the border into Syria.

"I think initially a lot of the requests that we were getting were the needs for acute care for really wound care crush injuries … and now that we’re approaching the three month mark … we’re seeing a lot more requests for chronic disease medication’s and even products for oncology," said director of pharmacy and clinical affairs Alycia Clark of Direct Relief.

Direct Relief is shipping out 69 tons of medical aid for Syria.

“It’s important for directly to continue to mobilize support … we are working with a very good groups in Syria who have very difficult jobs," said Tighe.

The shipment will be received by three on-the-ground organizations: Syrian American Medical Society, Independent Doctors Association, and Syria Relief and Development.

"My hope is to continue to support the best that we can hang out we can fortunate to receive a huge quantity of donations that we have to continue to support those groups," said Clark.

"Humanitarian crises are stacking up and it’s important to get them into that there’s still millions of people who need help," said Tighe.

This is the third fully loaded charter flight of medical aid direct relief has sent to Syria and Turkey since the earthquakes struck.