the international community is mobilizing

On Monday, Turkey and Syria were hit by a second earthquake that killed nearly 2,300 people. Faced with this, the international community offered its help. Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu appealed for international help in the morning on the Haberturk channel. Several countries of the European Union, as well as major powers such as the United States and China quickly responded to the call.

Greece promises major aid to Turkey

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis spoke by telephone with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday to offer “immediate help” to Turkey after the violent earthquake that devastated the south of the country and part of Syria, a- he announced. The head of government “reiterated Greece’s desire to immediately help Turkey” and offered “his most sincere condolences”, according to a brief statement from his services, while strong tensions oppose the two neighbors and historical rivals, marked by skirmishes in recent months between the two leaders.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis had already assured a little earlier “to make available to Turkey all our forces” and announced the dispatch of a plane from the Greek air force with about twenty firefighters and humanitarian aid. It is “a catastrophic earthquake”, he added, specifying that Greece could provide Turkey with “various equipment, medical equipment, blankets, tents” according to its needs. For his part, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said he had contact with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, and repeated that he was ready to provide “immediate assistance” to Turkey.

On board the C-130 of the Greek army which is due to take off on Monday will also be the president of the Greek Organization for the Fight against Earthquakes (Oasp), to participate in “the management of the efforts to deal with this disaster” , Greek government spokesman Yiannis Oikonomou said on Monday. Despite their historic rivalry, Athens and Ankara provide mutual aid in the event of natural disasters, especially since a previous earthquake that devastated the Izmit region in Turkey in 1999.

London sends 76 rescuers to Turkey

The United Kingdom is sending “immediate aid” to Turkey, including a team of 76 rescue workers, equipment and dogs after the earthquake which also affected Syria and left more than 1,500 dead, the British Foreign Minister announced on Monday. James Cleverly. In Syria, the UK-funded White Helmets have “mobilized their resources”, he added on Twitter, stressing that London stands “ready to provide further assistance”.

The European Union is mobilizing

The EU has activated its “civil protection mechanism”, and “teams from the Netherlands and Romania are already on the way”, according to the European Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarcic. Teams were “quickly mobilized”, from ten EU countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Greece, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Czech Republic), “he said in a statement. C “It is in this context that Bulgaria and Romania are each sending two planes carrying around sixty firefighters and rescuers, according to their authorities. Portugal has expressed its willingness to participate. “Germany will of course send help” , said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Twitter.

Italy intends to “make (its) civil protection personnel available”, tweeted its head of diplomacy, Antonio Tajani. Hungary has offered similar aid, according to EU Commissioner Lenarcic. Spain “immediately mobilized personnel and drones” leaving for Malatya, where the international aid center is located, its foreign minister, Jose Manuel Albares, said on Twitter. That of Poland, Mariusz Kaminski, announced by the same means the dispatch of “76 firefighters and eight rescue dogs”.

Joe Biden pledges US aid

US President Joe Biden said on Monday on Twitter “deeply saddened by the loss of life and devastation caused by the earthquake in Turkey and Syria”. “I have asked my teams to continue to monitor the situation very closely, in coordination with Turkey, and to provide all necessary assistance, whatever it may be,” he also said, while the provisional toll of the earthquake, in both countries, now exceeds 2,300 dead.

The president said later in another press release that the United States had organized initial humanitarian aid, in particular to accompany the Turkish authorities. “Our teams are rapidly deploying to begin supporting Turkey’s search and rescue efforts and responding to the needs of those injured and displaced by the earthquake,” Biden said. “Humanitarian partners supported by the United States are also responding to the destruction in Syria”, it is also specified.

Israel approves request for aid from Syria

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Monday that he had “approved” the sending of aid to Syria, hit by a deadly earthquake, after a request from Damascus received through “diplomatic channels”, the two countries having failed to no official relations. Israel “received a request from a diplomatic source for humanitarian aid in Syria and I approved it,” Netanyahu told lawmakers from his Likud party. Aid will be sent shortly, he said. His office declined to give further details regarding the “diplomatic source”. Syria does not recognize the existence of Israel, and the two countries have clashed several times.

About 783 people were killed and 2,280 injured in Syria by a powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.8 on the night of Sunday to Monday, followed in the morning by a very strong aftershock of magnitude 7.5. The earthquake also claimed hundreds of lives in southeastern Turkey and the toll is likely to rise, with many people still trapped under the rubble. Israel has also offered its help to Ankara: a team of specialized rescue workers leaves for Turkey on Monday and another team with humanitarian aid will follow on Tuesday, according to the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The rest of the world reacts

Some “80 Swiss first aid specialists” will be deployed in Turkey, announced the Swiss diplomacy, quoted by the Swiss agency ATS. In Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said his war-torn country was “ready to provide the necessary assistance” to Turkey. And even “a large group of rescuers,” said its head of diplomacy, Dmytro Kouleba, still on Twitter. On the Russian side, President Vladimir Putin assured that his country was ready to “provide the necessary assistance” to Turkey. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu offered his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar by telephone “medical aid for the victims”, according to a statement from the ministry. Vladimir Putin has also offered “all necessary assistance” from Moscow to the “Syrian people”.

More than 300 Russian soldiers stationed in Syria began Monday to help clear the rubble after an earthquake that killed more than 2,300 people in that country and in Turkey, the Russian army said. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, 300 soldiers and 60 vehicles are mobilized to “remove the rubble, search for the victims and provide them with medical assistance in the areas that have suffered the most destruction”.

In China, the official Chinese foreign aid agency said it was in communication with Turkish and Syrian authorities and was “ready to provide emergency humanitarian aid”. India has decided to send “immediately” “search, rescue and medical teams, as well as relief equipment”, the authorities announced in a press release. Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier tweeted that his country was “ready to offer all possible help” to Turkey, as well as “help and support” to the “Syrian people”.

Moreover, Iran is ready to provide “immediate assistance to these two friendly nations”, President Ebrahim Raisi said. Azerbaijan, a brother country of Turkey, has announced the immediate dispatch of 370 rescuers, according to the official Turkish Anadolu agency. Filippo Grandi, the head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), tweeted that the UN agency was “ready to provide emergency assistance to survivors through its teams on the ground, in wherever possible”.