SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — The death toll in Turkey and Syria following the 7.8-magnitude earthquake has now surpassed 5,000 casualties and help from the Ozarks could be on the way. 

Local humanitarian nonprofit Convoy of Hope is working to provide support to its partners in the two nations but is also facing its own adversity in being able to enter the countries.

Over 10,000 people have been injured by the earthquakes and 5,000 people have been confirmed dead. That number is expected to increase over the course of the next couple of months.

Ethan Forhetz, a spokesperson with the Convoy of Hope, says the tricky part is getting the supplies into the countries, considering what’s going on with their governments.

“It’s easy to get supplies in and out of a national disaster,” Forhetz said. “We have a fleet of trucks that can do that. Getting things internationally is a different situation because you are dealing with different governments that don’t allow certain things.”

Forhetz says the non-profit learned a lot from providing aid in Ukraine because they had to come up with different ways to get supplies into a warzone.

He says it is a process but something that Convoy of Hope is doing as quickly as possible.