A Cockermouth woman recently returned from Turkey, where she was part of a team providing vital aid following devastating earthquakes which have left more than 47,000 people dead.

Volunteer Anne Frankland was working for charity MapAction.

“I was based in Gaziantep in one of the 11 affected provinces for a two-week deployment,” said Anne, a freelance data and technology consultant and part-time deputy director at Cumbria Woodlands.

MapAction is a standby partner of the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination Team.

"As part of that team, we were working with data and producing maps to support search and rescue operations, and assess the primary needs of the population to ensure emergency relief was directed to the right people, in the right place at the right time," said Anne.

A 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck southeast Turkey on February 6. A second major earthquake struck soon after, as well as 7,000+ aftershocks.

Nearly 65,000 buildings in Turkey and Syria have been damaged and at least 1.5million people left homeless.

Anne and the MapAction team were less than 20 kilometres from the epicentre of the largest of the two earthquakes.

"Six of us to date have been deployed to Turkey to support the response, we're all volunteers and are professionals in data, technology or the geospatial disciplines in our day jobs,” said Anne, who joined the charity in 2005 and has been deployed all over the world since.

“Operations were challenged by cold temperatures and earthquake aftershocks.

“Following one big aftershock, people were too scared to go back into their homes and spent the night in their cars with the engines running.”

A host of other volunteers and staff have provided backup remote support to them from the UK.

“We've also had a dedicated remote team of volunteers supporting the earthquake response in Syria,” said Anne.

“It's a big team effort.”

Since 2003, MapAction has been applying expertise in geographical information and data to make humanitarian disaster responses as effective as possible, saving many thousands of lives in the process.

The non-profit organisation, with a team of around 100 people, collaborates with partners around the world to help anticipate, prepare for and respond to humanitarian emergencies.

Anne has been deployed about 20 times over the years.

“I wanted to use my professional skills within the humanitarian sector,” said Anne, who sits on the charity’s Board of Trustees.

She went to the Kashmir, Haiti and Japanese earthquakes in 2005, 2010 and 2011. In 2014 Anne was in Liberia following the Ebola outbreak, then, in 2018 she was in Uganda helping with the refugee crisis.

“More recently, in 2022, I was in Poland to support the Ukraine complex emergency,” said Anne.

For more details or to donate: mapaction.org