So far, there is no information on Brazilians among the more than 2,300 dead, according to the Itamaraty, in the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Turkey early this Monday (6), Sunday night (5) in Brazil.
“The Brazilian government follows, with great concern, the information about the devastating earthquake that occurred in Turkey and Syria this morning”, says the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a note.
“So far, there is no news of dead or injured Brazilians. The Brazilian embassies in Ankara and Damascus, as well as the Brazilian consulate general in Istanbul, are monitoring developments on the ground, on duty”, informs the chancellery.
“Through the Brazilian Cooperation Agency and in coordination with the countries in the affected areas, the Brazilian government is providing ways to offer humanitarian aid to the populations affected by the earthquake.”
So far, there are more than 2,400 dead in total. In Turkey, 1,541 people died and more than 8,500 were injured, according to local authorities, in the worst earthquake in the country since 1939. In Syria, there are 538 dead, according to the Bashar al-Assad regime, plus 380 deaths reported by Helmets Whites in rebel-held areas.
Other countries expressed solidarity and were ready to send aid to affected nations.
Vladimir Putin’s government in Russia said two Soviet-era Ilyushin-76 planes were available for rescue teams to fly to Turkey. The Russian has important ties with Bashar al-Assad, who supports the Syrian civil war, and with Erdogan, who flirts between NATO, the Western military alliance, and Moscow.
In the same vein, the government of Ukraine also offered to send “a large rescue group”. American Joe Biden said he was deeply saddened by the earthquake. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said his country is already providing assistance to Ankara and that US-backed humanitarian organizations are doing the same in Syria.
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced the deployment of emergency teams to Turkey and said he intended to do something similar for Syria. The European Union, for its part, said 10 rescue teams had been mobilized from Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, Greece, the Netherlands, Poland and Romania to support efforts in Turkey.
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