Latest Turkey and Syria earthquake news
BRUSELAS, 6 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Thirteen countries of the European Union have already mobilized to help Turkey with emergency teams in the face of the strong earthquake registered this Monday, as confirmed by the European Commission, after the earthquake that has left more than 1,300 dead in Turkey and Syria.
The EU has already mobilized rescue and search teams for survivors through the Civil Protection Mechanism, the instrument for coordinating European assistance to a Member State or a third country.
Aid from Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, Greece, the Netherlands, Poland and Romania is already confirmed and on the way, while Italy, Hungary, Spain, Malta and Slovakia have made their respective offers to the Turkish authorities, have Crisis Management spokesman Balazs Ujvari said at a press conference.
As part of the support to Ankara, the EU has activated the Copernicus satellite system to provide emergency mapping services and the EU is also ready to support those affected in Syria, as the Civil Protection Mechanism is activated on specific requests from the national authorities of a country.
Early this Monday, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, expressed his condolences for the “devastating earthquake” of magnitude 7.4, a message joined by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. , the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, and the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola.
The NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, has expressed “total solidarity” with Turkey, as an ally of the organization, and has indicated that NATO members are already in contact to provide aid.
European leaders have expressed their solidarity with Turkey and Syria, assuring that they will send emergency assistance and participate in rescue efforts. This is the case of the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, or the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak, who has said that London “is willing to help in any way possible.”
In statements to the press, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has indicated that at least 912 people have died and 5,385 in Turkish territory after the earthquake, which he has described as “the biggest disaster since the 1939 earthquake”.
The earthquake has also left 371 dead and 1,089 injured in areas controlled by the Syrian government, according to data published by the Syrian Ministry of Health on its website. To these figures we must add about 220 dead and some 420 wounded in the areas controlled by the rebels in the provinces of Idlib and Aleppo, in the northwest of the Arab country, according to the Syrian Civil Defense, known as ‘white helmets’. ‘, through his Twitter account.