Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, Romania and Slovenia, in addition to Norway, have so far offered emergency aid to Syria to address the humanitarian crisis unleashed by the strong earthquake with epicenter in southern Turkey that has left more than 36,000 dead in Turkey and Syria.
According to the latest balance sheet of the European Commission, up to nine Member States apart from Norway have offered Syria thousands of tents, warm clothes, sleeping bags, mattresses, generators, measurements and food, among other resources.
Also, European stocks of humanitarian material in Italy and Dubai have been mobilized to send emergency aid, an assistance that will be channeled through international organizations.
The aid will be distributed both in areas controlled by Damascus through the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), and in areas not controlled by the government in the northwest of the country, in cooperation in this case with the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The Civil Protection Mechanism coordinates at the European level the delivery of humanitarian material in response to crises and natural disasters. This step comes after the authorities of Bashar al-Assad formally asked the EU to activate the instrument and claim basic necessities for the affected people.
Damascus avoided taking the step until two days after the earthquake that affected the area under the control of different opposition factions, in the framework of the civil war in which Syria has been plunged since 2011.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
