The President of the United States, Joe Biden, assured this Monday to his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, that he will provide “all necessary help, whatever it may be”, after the devastating earthquake registered in Turkey, near the border with Syria. .
Biden expressed “his condolences on behalf of the American people” and guaranteed that the relief teams sent by the United States will be “quickly mobilized to support search and rescue efforts”, stressed, in a statement, the White House, on the dialogue between the two leaders.
The US head of state also expressed to the Turkish President the availability of US teams to “coordinate other assistance that may be necessary for people affected by earthquakes, including health services or basic relief materials”.
Specifically, the US plans to send two specialized urban search and rescue teams to Turkey, with 79 people each, detailed John Kirby, one of the White House spokespersons.
Along with countries like Israel and the United States, France announced that it would send 139 civil security rescue teams to Turkey on Monday night.
The United Kingdom will send 76 specialists in search and rescue, four dogs trained for this type of operations and equipment such as seismic listening devices, tools for cutting and fragmenting concrete and material for shoring the wreckage.
The death toll, according to the latest official data, is over 3,600.
In Turkey, the registration of victims rose this Monday night to 2,379 dead, according to Vice President Fuat Otkay, while in Syria, the death toll is now almost 1,300, according to the Ministry of Health and teams of rescue.
Given the conditions, the World Health Organization has warned that it expects a much higher final number.
“We often see numbers eight times higher than the initial numbers,” Catherine Smallwood, emergency manager at the WHO European office, told AFP.
The earthquake occurred at 4:17 am (1:17 am in Lisbon) this Monday, 33 kilometers from the provincial capital of Gaziantep, in southeastern Turkey, close to the border with Syria, at a depth of 17.9 kilometers.
According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS) the earthquake recorded a magnitude of 7.8 and dozens of aftershocks were felt, one of which was at least 7.6.
