Pakistan offers help to quake-hit Turkey

PM, President, COAS express grief over loss of precious lives

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has extended assistance to Turkey in the wake of a 6.8 magnitude quake that struck the eastern parts of the country on Friday night and claimed at least 22 lives and rendered more than 1,000 wounded.

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday took to Twitter and offered help to Ankara and expressed grief and sorrow over the loss of innocent lives.

“Deeply saddened by the loss of so many precious lives and of
hundreds injured in Turkey’s earthquake,” he wrote on the microblogging site.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the brotherly people and government of Turkey. Pakistan stands by them and is ready to lend any assistance in this hour of need,” he added.



Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa also expressed his condolences over the tragedy. A contingent of the Pakistan army, including a special rescue and relief team and field medical facilities, has been readied as part of the assistance offered to Turkey by the government, according to the military’s media wing, the ISPR.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, meanwhile, telephoned his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu and offered condolences on behalf of President Alvi, Premier Imran and the entire nation “for lives lost in the devastating earthquake”.

“Pakistan has offered to send field hospital and rescue team
to assist. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Turkish nation,” Qureshi said in a Twitter post.

The Turkish foreign minister thanked the Pakistan government and said: “If the need arises, Turkey will surely inform its brother Pakistan”.



As the rescue work continues in the quake-ravaged country, some 30 people were still buried under the rubble of collapsed buildings in Elazig province and neighbouring Malatya.

Emergency workers and security forces distributed tents, beds and blankets as overnight temperatures dropped below freezing point in the affected areas.

Mosques, schools, sports halls and student dormitories had been opened for hundreds who left their homes after the quake.

Environment and Urbanisation Minister Murat Kurum said at least five buildings in Sivrice and 25 in Malatya province had been destroyed, while hundreds of others rendered unsafe.

Communication companies announced free telephone and internet services for residents in the quake-hit region, while Turkish Airlines announced extra flights.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Twitter that all measures had been taken to “ensure that the earthquake that occurred in Elazig and was felt in many provinces is overcome with the least amount of loss.”

Neighbouring Greece, which is at odds with Turkey over maritime boundaries and gas exploitation rights, offered to send rescue crews should they be needed.

Turkey sits on top of two major fault lines and earthquakes are frequent. Two strong earthquakes struck northwest Turkey in 1999,
killing around 18,000 people. A magnitude 6 earthquake killed 51 people in Elazig in 2010.