Pakistan rushes aid to quake-hit Turkiye

PM sets up relief fund; several countries mobilise resources to join rescue

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan is among the first countries in the world to join the gigantic rescue efforts in Turkiye, following a devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake that killed thousands of people in swathes of the brotherly country as well as northwest Syria on Monday morning.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told a federal cabinet meeting on Tuesday that Pakistan had sent relief goods and rescue teams to Turkiye to support the relief activities. He also established The Prime Minister’s Relief Fund on Tuesday to help earthquake-hit Turkish people.

“The PIA [Pakistan International Airlines] and PAF [Pakistan Air Force] flights as well as rescue teams, doctors and paramedics have been dispatched to Turkiye,” Shehbaz told the cabinet meeting. “The supply of the relief goods will continue,” he added.

While setting up the relief fund, Shehbaz appealed to the people, particularly businessmen and philanthropists, to donate to the fund, generously. On the occasion, ministers announced to donate one month salary and one-day salary of the government employees in Grade 18 to 22 to the relief fund.

“The Pakistani nation will not leave their Turkish brethren alone in this hour of the ordeal. I am also leaving for Turkiye by tomorrow to visit the quake-ravaged areas of Turkiye,” the prime minister told the cabinet members.

Shehbaz also informed the cabinet about his telephonic interaction with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday in which he conveyed condolences and assured all-out support. The cabinet condoled over the deaths in Turkiye and Syria and offered Fateha for the departed souls.

In the quake countries, rescue workers still searching for trapped survivors, while the death toll rose above 6,200 by the evening. The authorities said 4,544 people died in Turkey and 1,712 in Syria, bringing the total to 6,256.

Several countries around the world have mobilised rapidly to send aid and rescue workers. They included the European Union, which mobilised 27 search and rescue and medical teams from 19 countries to help Turkey, EU crisis management commissioner Janez Lenarcic said on Tuesday.

President Joe Biden said that US teams were "deploying quickly to begin to support Turkish search and rescue efforts". China said the first Chinese rescue teams started work in Turkey on Tuesday and that it was sending $5.9 million in emergency aid, state media reported.

A team of 76 search and rescue specialists, equipment and rescue dogs, are being sent by Britain along with an emergency medical team to assess the situation on the ground. President Vladimir Putin promised to send Russian teams to both the quake-hit countries.

"Our teams are on the ground assessing the needs and providing assistance. We count on the international community to help the thousands of families hit by this disaster, many of whom were already in dire need of humanitarian aid in areas where access is a challenge," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.

Two of India's National Disaster Response Force teams comprising 100 personnel with dog squads and equipment were ready to be flown to the affected area. Germany – home to about three million people of Turkish origin – will "mobilise all the assistance we can activate", Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis, prime minister of Turkey's historic rival Greece, pledged to make "every force available" to aid its neighbour. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that his country was "ready to provide the necessary assistance to overcome the consequences of the disaster."

Qatar said it would send 120 rescue workers to Turkey, alongside "a field hospital, relief aid, tents and winter supplies". The United Arab Emirates pledged assistance worth around $13.6 million to Syria, including search and rescue teams, urgent relief supplies and emergency aid.

The UAE had already dispatched the first plane to southern Turkey, where it is planning to establish a field hospital. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had approved the sending of aid to Syria -- whose government does not recognise Israel. A Damascus official denied they had requested Israel for help.

Iran is ready to provide "immediate relief aid to these two friendly nations", President Ebrahim Raisi said. The country sent an 89-member risk-management team, including medics, to Turkey with 17 tonnes of equipment, and another team will go to Syria, civil defence said.