A second Taiwanese emergency team departed last night to help with disaster relief operations after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Turkey and Syria on Monday morning.
The group is composed of 90 personnel and two search-and-rescue dogs. The first team of 40 personnel and three dogs left on Monday night.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that it was increasing its donation to Turkey to US$2 million, from the US$200,000 it announced on Monday.
Photo courtesy of the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism
Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) confirmed that a Taiwanese family of three trapped in a collapsed building in Turkey had been rescued and were safe.
Local media reports said they were being housed at the Taiwan-Reyhanli Centre for World Citizens in Turkey. The center, built in 2020 with funding from the Taiwanese government, serves Syrian refugees and Turkish nationals, and is being used to temporarily house victims of the quake.
The Tourism Bureau said that all 414 tourists from 17 Taiwanese tour groups were safe.
Photo: AFP
Turkey’s trade office in Taiwan called for donations of winter clothing and other necessities to help quake victims.
The office said donations of winter clothing for adults and children, such as overcoats, pants, sweaters, gloves, scarves, socks, underwear, hats, boots and raincoats were urgently needed to assist those affected by the earthquake.
Beds, sleeping pads, sleeping bags, mattresses, blankets, thermoses, flashlights, diapers, sanitary pads, and cleaning and hygiene items are also welcome, it said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The office advised people wishing to send in-kind assistance to people in need in Turkey to contact the office at tr-office.taipei@mfa.gov.tr with information on what they will send, and the weight and quantity of the items.
Search teams and emergency aid from other parts of the world yesterday continued to pour into Turkey and Syria as rescuers working in freezing temperatures dug through the remains of buildings flattened by the quake. The death toll soared above 5,000 and was still expected to rise.
More than 8,000 people have been pulled from the debris in Turkey alone, and about 380,000 have taken refuge in government shelters or hotels, Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
They huddled in shopping malls, stadiums, mosques and community centers, while others spent the night outside in blankets gathering around fires.
Many took to social media to plead for assistance for loved ones believed to be trapped under the rubble — and Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency quoted Turkish Ministry of the Interior officials as saying all calls were being “collected meticulously” and the information relayed to search teams.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said 13 million of the country’s 85 million were affected in some way — and declared a state of emergency in 10 provinces to manage the response.
For the entire quake-hit area, that number could be as high as 23 million people, said Adelheid Marschang, a senior emergencies officer with the WHO.
Teams from nearly 30 countries around the world headed for Turkey or Syria.
As promises of help flooded in, Turkey said it would only allow vehicles carrying aid to enter the worst-hit provinces of Kahramanmaras, Adiyaman and Hatay to speed up the effort.
The UN said it was “exploring all avenues” to get supplies to rebel-held northwestern Syria, where millions live in extreme poverty and rely on humanitarian aid to survive.
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