The devastating earthquake that struck northwestern Turkey on Aug. 17, 1999, cut a fatal swath through cities and villages and reduced entire neighborhoods to rubble. "God took everything. We have nothing left," a dazed survivor told a U.S. journalist. The severe quake, which registered 7.4 on the Richter scale, killed 17,000 people--the 11th worst death toll among 20th century earthquakes.

Incredibly, another powerful quake hit Turkey three months later. Hundreds more were killed and tens of thousands left homeless. The twin tragedies staggered Turkey, already struggling with a faltering economy. Relief for survivors was inadequate. Many still lived in squalid tent cities as recently as the summer of 2001.

Fortunately, through LCIF, Lions eased the misery of many. Emergency grants totaling US $40,000 supplied food and clothing within days of the disaster. LCIF also gave US$2 million to build more than 100 single-family homes, two large schools, a couple of daycare centers, a university dormitory and a health center/student center.

One family helped was the Inanoglus, who received a container home. "Lions never stop helping us,"said Hanife Inanoglu. "They started a business for my husband, a shoemaker who lost his shop during the earthquake....Life in the Lions village is wonderful. Lions taught me to live again, the importance of education and methods of coexistence in these unusual conditions.

 "With two drops of tears falling from my eyes, I want to say: How I wish that everyone in the world could be as good as a Lion."

As with other relief efforts, local Lions contributed mightily to the initiative in Turkey. Turkish Lions raised more than US $145,000 for a single container village and provided untold hours of volunteer help in distributing supplies and constructing the container homes.

About 90 percent of the LCIF aid to Turkey came from donations from Lions worldwide, especially from Japan. LCIF gave a US$100,000 major catastrophe grant and the US$40,000 emergency grants. In 2001, LCIF made 138 emergency grants, most of them for US $10,000. The grants went toward immediate relief supplies for natural disasters ranging from a typhoon in Taiwan to a tornado in Ohio.

Most of the aid for Turkey was fully realized in fiscal year 2000-2001 and continues to make a positive difference today. Two major catastrophe grants awarded in 2000-2001 were a US $500,000 grant for earthquake relief in Gujarat, India, and a US $100,000 grant to reconstruct quake-damaged homes in El Salvador.

Year in and year out nature wreaks havoc. Just as certain, Lions through LCIF help pick up the pieces and get communities back on their feet.