Pakistan's premier sets up relief fund for Türkiye's earthquake victims

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) – Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has set up a relief fund to support the victims of Monday's massive earthquakes that jolted the southeastern region of Türkiye.

Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb, in a tweet on Tuesday, said that Sharif has decided to establish the "Prime Minister's Relief Fund to support the earthquake victims of brotherly country, Türkiye."

As a first step, she said, the members of the federal Cabinet have announced to donate one-month salary to the relief fund.

Sharif urged the people of Pakistan, mainly philanthropists, to "generously" extend a helping hand to the earthquake victims.

Sharif and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will leave for Türkiye on Wednesday to express solidarity with the earthquake victims and the Turkish government at this trying hour, Aurangzeb said in a separate tweet.

Meanwhile, the first search and rescue teams from Pakistan arrived in Türkiye on Tuesday to support the ongoing relief and rescue operations in the quake-hit areas.

The teams arrived early this morning, according to the Pakistani diplomatic mission in the Turkish capital Ankara.

A C-130 plane carrying a 33-member contingent of Pakistan Army’s Urban Search and Rescue arrived in the Turkish city of Adana today.

In coordination with the Turkish disaster management authority, “the teams are immediately being dispatched to the affected areas,” Pakistan’s Embassy said.

At least 3,432 people were killed and 21,103 others injured in 10 provinces of Türkiye due to two strong earthquakes that jolted the southern part of the country, an official from the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) said on Tuesday.

Early Monday morning, a powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the Pazarcik district of Kahramanmaras province and strongly shook several other provinces, including Gaziantep, Sanliurfa, Diyarbakir, Adana, Adiyaman, Malatya, Osmaniye, Hatay and Kilis.

Then at 13.24 p.m. (1024GMT), a 7.6 magnitude quake centered in Kahramanmaras’ Elbistan district struck the region.

Türkiye’s Vice President Fuat Oktay said on Tuesday that more than 8,000 people have been rescued from the rubble so far.

A total of 3,294 search and rescue personnel reached Türkiye from 14 countries, the vice president said.

The earthquakes were also felt in several countries in the region, including Syria and Lebanon.