EU ministers discuss quake relief support for Türkiye, Syria

By Agnes Szucs

BRUSSELS (AA) - EU ministers discussed on Tuesday the bloc’s support to people affected by the recent earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria.

“I updated my colleagues on the different activities undertaken in the aftermath of the earthquakes,” Jessika Roswall, Swedish minister of EU affairs, told reporters at a news conference after the meeting.

Roswall “highlighted the massive humanitarian needs on the ground and gave an overview of the coordination efforts within the EU’s integrated political crisis response mechanism,” the Swedish EU presidency explained in a statement.

She also informed the ministers about the donors’ conference that the Swedish EU presidency and the European Commission is organizing on March 16 to “raise resources in support of the early recovery and relief.”

According to Roswall, the EU needs “to use all the tools at our disposal to ensure that help gets to the people in need” because the natural disaster “left behind horrible destruction.”

EU Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighborhood Oliver Varhelyi and Swedish International Development Minister Johan Forssell will travel to Türkiye on Wednesday to hold talks with Turkish authorities in preparation for the donors’ conference.

Under the EU’s Civil Protection Mechanism, 32 search and rescue teams and six medical teams from 21 EU member states and three other European participating countries contributed to the relief work in Türkiye.

The bloc has also allocated €3 billion ($3.2 billion) support to humanitarian organizations working in the country, and sent 500 temporary accommodation units, 2,000 tents, and 8,000 beds from its strategic reserves.

More than 42,300 people have died in two strong earthquakes that jolted southern Türkiye on Feb. 6, the country’s disaster management agency said on Tuesday.