Additional help amounting to 100 million dollars for the earthquake affected areas in Turkey and Syria announced on Sunday the Minister of Foreign Affairs Anthony Blinken, who met with the Turkish counterpart of Mevlut Cavusoglu and immediately after they boarded a helicopter of the Turkish Air Force destined for earthquake affected areas. “I saw the disaster firsthand,” said the American Foreign Minister.

“Today, I’m announcing plans for an additional $100 million to provide relief assistance to Turkey and Syria through the State Department and USAID. The United States will continue to stand by the Turkish and Syrian people,” said Anthony Blinken in a message on Twitter.

“In response to the tragic earthquakes, the US has responded with $185 million in humanitarian aid to date. American businesses, communities and individuals are also helping generously. We thank the USAID teams who are working tirelessly to provide emergency assistance,” said the US Secretary of State.

“It is with deep sadness that I saw first hand the devastation caused by the earthquakes in Turkey. The United States remains committed to doing everything we can to assist in the rescue, relief and recovery efforts,” he noted.

“Before our official meeting tomorrow, we examined the earthquake-affected areas with Foreign Minister Blinken, who is on a solidarity visit to Turkey,” Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Twitter.

Blinken will go to Ankara in the evening where he will meet tomorrow, among others, with the president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The United States has since the day after the earthquake deployed several search and rescue teams to Turkey, about 200 people, and released a first tranche of $85 million as humanitarian aid. They also deployed Black Hawk and Chinook helicopters to transport supplies.

The United Nations has appealed for international aid to raise one billion dollars for Turkey.

Earlier, Turkish authorities announced the end of rescue efforts, except in two provinces where the chances of finding survivors remain slim: in Kahramanmaras, where it was the epicenter, and in Hatay, where the US diplomatic chief was able to see the extent of the devastation. .

The 7.8-magnitude earthquake caused great destruction in the southern part of the country and Syria and the death 40,689 people in Turkey, according to the latest official report released today by AFAD. Over 46,000 are the victims in Turkey and Syria. The toll is expected to rise significantly as around 345,000 apartments are now known to have been destroyed in the country and many people are still missing. Neither Turkey nor Syria has announced how many people are still missing after the earthquake.

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Fuat Oktay said how 105,000 buildings have collapsed or been seriously damaged and will be demolished.

Blinken

Blinken

Cavusoglu