9 minutes agoTen EU member states to send search and rescue teams to Türkiye
Periskopi(3 years ago)
(3 years ago)Janez Lennarcic, European Union Commission member (BE) responsible for crisis management, civil protection and humanitarian aid, said that following Türkiye's request, 10 EU member states would send teams of research and rescue due to the 7.7-magnition earthquake that occurred with the opposition Pazarcı in the town of Kahramaraş and [...]
At a press conference with a group of journalists, Lenacic informed that the countries they will send teams are the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Croatia, Bulgaria, Greece, Czechia, France, Italy and Hungary.
He expressed condolences to Türkiye and the family of those who lost their lives because of the earthquake and stressed that in a short time after the earthquake at Türkiye's request, the EU Civil Protection Mechanism has come into operation.
“I believe that in the next few hours and days, the number of countries that have responded to the call for help to” will increase, Lenacic said, stressing that the search-saving teams will work through the cities for the rescue of persons who have remained under the rubble.
Lenarcic further added that they have co-ordinated support under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism in which Türkiye has been involved since 2016 and that some of the teams going to Türkiye have been launched.
“We are constantly in touch with Türkiye for sending and positioning teams”, Lenacic said, suggesting that they are ready for additional support needed, that satellite Copernicus service has been activated for map services and that they have started providing support to the emergency situation with satellite photos for search-saving work on Tükiye.
He stressed that major damage has been caused in Syria as well and that they will offer assistance there even under the humanitarian aid programme.
EU Civil Protection Mechanism
There are also Iceland, Norway, Serbia, Northern Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Türkiye in the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. The mechanism is used in order to prepare for natural disasters such as fires, floods, earthquakes and to provide answers to these disasters.
In addition to participating countries, the mechanism could be put into effect by any country facing any disasters. The mechanism established 20 years ago, Türkiye joined in 2016 and has repeatedly responded to various countries' requests for help under the mechanism.
Türkiye, who has previously responded to five times for assistance, has activated the mechanism for the third time with the last earthquake that occurred in the morning with the Kahramanaş epidera. The mechanism gets more than 100 requests each year.
