Several countries have conveyed to Turkey and Syria on Monday their willingness to deliver aid after the earthquake of magnitude 7.4 on the open Richter scale registered near the border between the two countries, which has left more than 650 dead and about 3,000 injured, according to official balances.
The Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, has shown his «regret» for the information about the earthquake and has regretted that «the death toll continues to rise». «We show our condolences to the relatives and fear for those who are still trapped. Germany will send help,» he said on his Twitter account.
French President Emmanuel Macron has lamented the «terrible images coming from Turkey and Syria after an earthquake of unprecedented strength» and added that «France is ready to deliver emergency aid to the populations.» «Our thoughts are with the affected families,» he has noted.
In the same vein has expressed the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak, who said that London «is ready to help in any way possible.» «My thoughts are with the people of Turkey and Syria, especially the emergency teams working bravely to save those trapped by the earthquake,» he stressed.
For her part, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is following «the events surrounding the earthquake that has struck Turkey, near the Syrian border.» «She expresses her solidarity to the affected populations. Civil Protection has shown its availability to contribute to the delivery of essential aid», her office has indicated.
Shortly before, the governments of Russia, Ukraine and Israel had offered aid to Turkey, although only Moscow has pronounced itself on a possible support to Damascus in the aftermath of the earthquake. For its part, the European Union (EU) has activated the Civil Protection Mechanism to coordinate the response to the earthquake, as confirmed by the Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarcic.
So far, more than 280 people have been confirmed dead and 2,300 injured in Turkey, as well as about 240 dead and 640 injured in areas of Syria controlled by the authorities. To these figures must be added about 150 dead and more than 340 wounded in rebel-held areas in the provinces of Idlib and Aleppo, in the northwest of the Arab country, as indicated by the Syrian Civil Defense, known as ‘white helmets’.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
