Turkey and Syria were hit by a sequence of strong earthquakes on February 6th, 2023, resulting in extensive damage to the region’s infrastructure, significant human suffering, and disruption of everyday life. Aside from
The Belgian Federal government stepped up its humanitarian aid efforts for the affected regions in Turkey by supplying sleeping bags and the dispatch of the BFast EMT-2 Field Hospital, stored in Belgium for emergency response actions, by military airlift from Melsbroek.
The complete Field Hospital, which was jointly developed with Alpinter in 2020, was acquired and stocked as part of the a larger UN initiative to enhance health services offered by national and international emergency medical teams, as well as to bolster the capacity of national health systems in coordinating and activating a response in the immediate aftermath of an emergency.
A dedicated team from Alpinter HQ traveled to the affected regions in Turkey. The goal of this visit was twofold:
1. To understand the use and performance of shelter products supplied in the initial phase of the crisis, in order to improve our tented solutions for future emergency situations;
2. To evaluate the setup and functioning of the EMT-2 Field Hospital, assisting in this way the Belgian government and other international relief agencies in their current and future crisis-response efforts.
Quality of the supplied shelter and relief products is crucial for Alpinter. Where a Field Assessment is the best way to evaluate the performance of our shelter solutions in a specific emergency situation, this is not always feasible.
Therefore, we have set up a series of parallel actions to ensure product quality in various situations. Alpinter – World of Tents has an in-house laboratory and test site in the Belgium HQ and has established its own test center in the United Arab Emirates to ensure durability and performance of its various tents. By extensively exposing tents and other shelter materials to the elements in both test centers (UAE and Belgium) Alpinter assures that its products can withstand the harshest climate conditions for extended periods.
