First Batch of Relief Materials from India Reaches Turkey

NEW DELHI: Turkey and Syria were ravaged by multiple high-intensity earthquakes on February 6 leading to thousands of deaths and injuries. After the appeal of the President of Turkey, several countries have sent materials and personnel to help in rescue missions in the country.

India too had dispatched its first batch of supplies and experts for the earthquake-affected regions. A C17 plane belonging to the Indian Air Force took off from India as a part of the Humanitarian and Disaster Relief operations. Narendra Modi had earlier declared that India will provide all possible assistance to the affected regions and ordered the relevant ministries and departments to take the necessary steps with immediate effect.

The spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, announced the first batch of relief material over Twitter. He said, "India's Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) capabilities in action. The 1st batch of earthquake relief material leaves for Türkiye, along with NDRF Search & Rescue Teams, specially trained dog squads, medical supplies, drilling machines & other necessary equipment."

"First Indian C17 flight with more than 50 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) Search & Rescue (SAR) personnel, specially trained dog squads, drilling machines, relief material, medicines and other necessary utilities and equipment reaches Adana, Türkiye," mentioned the External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar.

Aids going for Syria will be sent in the afternoon via a C-130 belonging to the Indian Air Force. This batch will consist of medicines and equipment, but no teams will be sent there. Damaged runways and lack of landing strips have been mentioned to be the cause of the delays.

A field hospital has also been mobilised for the support of the victims and 89 member medical team has been sent from Agra. This team consists of the orthopaedic surgical team, a general surgical team, and medicine specialist teams apart from other support teams. The teams are equipped with X-ray machines, ventilators, an Oxygen generation plant, cardiac monitors and associated equipment to establish a 30 bedded medical facility.

Firat Sunel, the Turkish Ambassador to India has expressed his gratitude to the Indian government for its support during this crisis.

Meanwhile the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced a three-month state of emergency across all the10 provinces worst affected by the major earthquakes and their aftershocks.

Also Read: Second Earthquake of 7.6 Intensity Hits Turkey

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