Europe, US, Balkan Countries, Pledge Aid for Quake-Hit Turkey

Dozens of European and Balkan countries have responded to Turkey’s appeal for help after two massive earthquakes devastated its southern and south-eastern provinces and claimed well over a thousand lives.

Emergency personnel search for victims at the site of a collapsed building after the earthquake in Diyarbakir, southeast Turkey, 6 February 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE/REFIK TEKIN

Countries in Europe and the Balkans on Monday pledged help for Turkey which was hit by lethal 7.9 and 7.7 magnitudes earthquakes on Monday in the southern province of Kahramanmaras and other provinces. Northern Syria was also hit.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that NATO, EU countries and 45 other countries had responded to Turkey’s appeal for help. “We have prioritised search and rescue missions. Countries have started to reach Turkey with international help,” he said.

There are reports that about 1,500 people were killed on Monday.

In a joint statement, EU High Representative Josep Borrell and the EU Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic said teams had been mobilized from Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, Greece, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland and Romania to support first responders on the ground.

In addition to the EU, Britain also offered help. “The UK stands ready to help in whatever way we can,” British PM Rishi Sunak said.

NATO also offered aid to the defender of its southern flank. “Full solidarity with our ally Turkey in the aftermath of this terrible earthquake. I am in touch with President Erdogan and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. NATO Allies are mobilizing support now,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg wrote on Twitter.

The help from European and NATO countries includes search and rescue missions, health workers, fire brigades, helicopters, drones and other crisis management personnel in addition to humanitarian help.

Turkey announced that international help and teams will gather in Malatya Airport in eastern Turkey since many other airports, roads, bridges and motorways in the country are damaged.

Severe weather conditions and snowstorms across the country made it harder to provide local and international assistance to the quake-hit provinces in southern and southeast Turkey.

Turkey’s Balkan neighbours were also quick to offer help.

Serbia’s Tanjug news agency reported that Serbia is sending search teams to rescue survivors from the rubble, comprising 21 members and three liaison officers from the Interior Ministry’s Department of Emergency Situations.

“Croatia will send a rescue team of 40 people from Interior Ministry as a sign of solidarity,” Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic wrote on Twitter.

The Croatian search and rescue team was leaving Monday for Turkey. The team is composed of 40 experts in urban search and rescue from ruins and 10 search dogs. The Croatian Red Cross has started the process of opening an appeal and a donor phone line to collect aid for the victims.

Bosnia’s security minister, Nenad Nesic, confirmed that a team of 50 rescuers will be sent from Bosnia to Turkey, and procedures for their departure are currently being finalized. The team will comprise of members of Civil Protection Services of the two entities, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska, and Brcko District.

Kosovo, Albania and North Macedonia also announced that search and rescue teams will depart for Turkey today without giving details.

Local authorities have also offered help to ease the tragedy in Turkey. The Mayor of the Montenegrin town of Kotor, Vladimir Jokic, offered to send the local Protection and Rescue Service Unit help to the Turkish town of Gaziantep and host a group of children who lost their homes in the earthquake.

Other countries including the US, Israel, India, Taiwan and Pakistan are also sending search and rescue missions, helicopters and other vehicles to Turkey.

Generous help came from Turkey’s close ally Azerbaijan, which sent 370 members from elite military search and rescue teams early on Monday.

Turkey announced that the earthquakes caused a level 4 alarm situation and requested all possible help. According to the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency, AFAD, at least 1,498 people lost their lives, more than 8,500 people were injured and at least 2,834 buildings were destroyed.

Officials and experts say that the death toll will rise in the coming days.

In addition to the two major earthquakes, dozens of aftershock quakes have continued to shake the region, some of them above magnitude 6.

Officials warn people to not to drink from damaged city water supplies. Many cities and towns do not have electric, internet, phone lines and heating in freezing winter conditions.