The UAE has rushed humanitarian aid to the earthquake-affected regions in Turkey and Syria.
UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan said field hospitals are being established and search and rescue teams are being dispatched to the quake-hit areas.
Earlier on Monday, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed also spoke to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, expressing his heartfelt condolences and sympathies for the presidents and their people.
Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed reiterated UAE’s support for both Syria and Turkey and offered to provide every possible assistance in their efforts to mitigate the impact of the earthquake.
UAE’s humanitarian aid
Meanwhile, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, directed the dispatch of urgent humanitarian aid worth AED50 million to Syria.
Sheikh Mohammed affirmed that the UAE is ready to support the Syrian brothers in facing this great calamity that befell them, and said that his country stands by the Syrian people and will continue to extend a helping hand to them until they overcome the ordeal.
The aid will be delivered in the form of ration parcels through the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives to the most affected groups in Syria.
The UAE has been keen to make humanitarian and development assistance an essential part of its foreign relations, and for years it has topped the global lists of the largest donors in the field of official development assistance (ODA) in comparison to its national income.
Other Gulf countries have also joined the UAE in the rescue effort and urgent aid. Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait and Qatar have announced they will send aid and rescue teams to the affected countries.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman also held a call with Turkish President Erdogan.
Regions of the two countries were struck by a massive earthquake early on Monday morning – measured 7.8 on richter scale – and it was followed by a series of aftershocks.
It was the biggest recorded earthquake worldwide by the US Geological Survey since a tremor in the remote South Atlantic in August 2021.
Death toll in the two countries has now crossed 3,700, with the rescue effort hampered by freezing winter weather.
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