WACKER Donates VINNAPAS^{^®} for Earthquake Relief in Turkey

Burghausen, Jul 28, 2023

Our products help: We have donated 10,750 kg of VINNAPAS^{^®} to the earthquake project of our Turkish customer Kalekim, who uses our polymer binders for tile adhesives, plasters and fillers to equip sanitary and kitchen containers for earthquake victims free of charge.

Ilaria Brillarelli, Carlo Jahr and Peter Summo (from left) sent a truck carrying around 10,750 kg of *VINNAPAS^{^®}* on its way to Turkey. Our product donation will help equip containers for earthquake victims.

Five months ago, an earthquake in Turkey and Syria killed 60,000 people. In southeastern Turkey and northern Syria, an area the size of Germany was devastated. According to the aid organization Doctors Without Borders, three million people are still living in makeshift shelters.

“Our customer Kalekim immediately pitched in with 150 people using heavy equipment to help with the search and cleanup efforts. Kalekim also sent 34 trucks with relief supplies,” says Carlo Jahr, head of the Building & Infrastructure East/MEA business team. Since February, Kalekim has donated 400 sanitary containers, a mobile kindergarten and numerous containers with a kitchen, bathroom, and toilet for the earthquake survivors.

Our customer Kalekim uses *VINNAPAS^{^®}* to produce tile adhesives and dispersions. Kalekim uses the materials to equip containers in the earthquake region free of charge.

For the first few months, many of those affected lived in tent cities. Now the task is to improve the situation for the people by providing containers – and this is where we come in: “With our VINNAPAS^{^®}, Kalekim will produce adhesives and dispersions to equip many more containers for earthquake victims free of charge,” adds Ilaria Brillarelli, head of the Business Division Polymers EMEA.

Doctors Without Borders assumes that thousands of families will continue to live in container cities for years. “WACKER is a company that takes responsibility,” adds Peter Summo, head of the WACKER POLYMERS division. “Our polymers enable our customer to offer very effective help: VINNAPAS^{^®} significantly reduces material consumption in dry mortars, which means we are also helping save resources.”