EU allocates $7M aid to Türkiye, Syria to boost rescue work after earthquake

By Agnes Szucs

BRUSSELS (AA) – The European Union mobilizes €6.5 million ($7 million) emergency assistance to Türkiye and Syria after the earthquake, the European Commission announced on Wednesday.

Under the framework of the European Civil Protection Mechanism, the EU allocates to Türkiye “€3 million in emergency assistance to boost response efforts in the country,” the EU executive body said in a statement.

On Thursday, EU Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic will visit the Turkish regions hit by disaster, the document added.

The aid comes in addition to the 31 search and rescue teams and five medical teams offered by 20 EU member states and associate countries of Albania, Montenegro, and Serbia through the bloc’s emergency mechanism which Türkiye is also a member of.

Syria will receive €3.5 million in humanitarian assistance to provide shelter, water, and healthcare for the people in need, as well as to help with the rescue work.

At least 9,057 people were killed and 52,979 others injured after devastating earthquakes hit southern Türkiye on Monday, according to the country's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.