In solidarity with its neighbor Türkiye, Greece has begun a national drive to gather aid items for earthquake victims in Türkiye and Syria, Greek media reported Friday, along with vans that already set off Friday from Athens with 40 tons of support from the Greek Red Cross.
The marketing campaign will likely be carried out in coordination with the Central Union of Municipalities in Greece (KEDE) and 13 regional unions of municipalities, in response to public broadcaster ERT.
Citizens have been requested to donate important supplies, together with, however not restricted to, blankets, flashlights, sleeping luggage, private hygiene gadgets, dry meals and child meals, the report mentioned.
Donations will likely be collected at metropolis halls in numerous areas till Feb. 13.
Several different public establishments, together with ministries and governorships, commerce unions and residents’ teams are already conducting extra support drives in quite a few cities of Greece, the report added.
At least 19,388 folks misplaced their lives and 77,711 others have been injured since Monday’s highly effective earthquakes in southern Türkiye, in response to the newest official figures.
The magnitude 7.7 and seven.6 earthquakes, centered within the Kahramanmaraş province, have impacted some 13 million folks throughout 10 Turkish provinces, together with Adana, Adıyaman, Diyarbakır, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye and Şanlıurfa.
In neighboring Syria, the loss of life toll has climbed above 3,300, with greater than 5,200 folks injured.
Assistance from Greek Red Cross on its approach
Meanwhile, three Hellenic Red Cross vans loaded with 40 tons of aid provides resembling beds, tents, blankets, kitchen utensils, meals, water, medical provides and hygiene merchandise, left the Greek capital Athens this morning.
Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Andreas Katsaniotis, who was put answerable for organizing establishments and people who need to ship humanitarian support to Türkiye and Syria upon the directions of Greek Prime Minister Kiryakos Mitsotakis, mentioned in a press release to the press that the help to Türkiye is stuffed with feelings and that the help will proceed.
Speaking on the diplomatic academy in Asuncion, Paraguay, the place he’s on an official go to, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias mentioned, “The catastrophic earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria showed, by the reactions of both the Greek and the Turkish societies, that people are much closer than their leaderships sometimes think.”
Speaking to the Anadolu Agency (AA), Greek Red Cross President Antonis Avyeniros acknowledged that the Greek Red Cross Institution has been involved with the Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay) for the reason that first day to find out the pressing wants of earthquake victims.
Avyeniros mentioned, “The Greek Red Cross is always with our friends in Türkiye. We have great cooperation with the Turkish Red Crescent. Not just now, but always. We are in full coordination with the Red Crescent,” he mentioned.
Avyeniros acknowledged that the vans are deliberate to achieve the earthquake zone after a 3.5-day journey and famous that they plan to ship support to the earthquake victims on this approach with many convoys any further.
Underlining that these consignments are additionally a message of friendship and solidarity, Avyeniros mentioned, “We will be by their side (earthquake victims) as much as necessary.”
Yorgos Stamatis, the overall secretary of Social Solidarity of the Greek Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, mentioned: “We are here to support. We are brothers. We are united in every difficulty. I hope everything will be healed as soon as possible.”
Politics put apart
Aimilia Balta’s mom fled Türkiye after a battle with Greece a century in the past nevertheless it has not stopped the aged Greek from donating garments for the hundreds left homeless by the lethal earthquake there.
“People are cold, so we do what we can” to assist, Balta – whose mom survived the Greek-Turkish battle of 1922 – informed Agence France-Presse (AFP) as she left luggage of woolens and overcoats on the city corridor of a northern Athens suburb.
Thousands of Greeks have responded to requires support to quake-hit Türkiye, reviving recollections of how a spontaneous outpouring of assist after an analogous catastrophe in 1999 introduced the neighbors collectively after they gave the impression to be on the point of battle.
At the Athens places of work of the Greek Red Cross, sleeping luggage, blankets, milk cans and bins of medication are piling up, the group’s spokesperson Konstantinos Gavriilidis mentioned.
In reference to the truck convoy that left Athens Friday, Gavriilidis mentioned, “A nationwide appeal was launched two days ago… and the response was immediate and abundant.”
The Greek authorities has individually despatched 80 tons of medical and first support tools.
NATO allies Türkiye and Greece have a historical past of rivalry that goes again centuries. But the 2 international locations that lie on seismic fault strains even have a practice of serving to one another in quake emergencies. Greece was among the many first European international locations to ship rescue employees and humanitarian support on Monday, a number of hours after the catastrophe.
“We must make all our forces available to Türkiye,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis mentioned on Monday. A day later, he tweeted in Turkish: “Greeks and Turks are fighting side by side, together to save lives.”
On Wednesday, a second plane carrying firefighters, engineers and medical doctors left Greece.
“Solidarity is alive in these difficult times,” Simos Roussos, the mayor of a northern suburb of Athens, mentioned in a Facebook publish as he introduced native support assortment areas.
“The public reaction is to be expected,” Fotini Tsibiridou, a professor of social anthropology on the University of Macedonia in northern Greece, informed AFP. Greeks “want to give their support because they are moved by the drama that contrasts with the political rhetoric of division and rivalry,” she mentioned.
Greek TV channels are working rescue operation footage dwell from the catastrophe zone, reflecting the nation’s personal quake issues. A video displaying Greek rescuers pulling a toddler from the rubble within the quake-stricken Turkish area of Hatay has been shared tens of hundreds of occasions.
Balta informed AFP that her mom by no means returned to her dwelling metropolis of Izmir after 1922, and he or she can not convey herself to take action both.
“It’s too sad, I don’t want to go back,” she mentioned, however vowing to return to the city corridor on Monday with extra garments.
Support from Finland, Latvia on route
The Finnish Red Cross additionally despatched 300,000 euros ($320,530) in support for these affected by the Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquake, which is described because the “disaster of the century.”
In the assertion made on the group’s web site, it mentioned the help in query could be shared between Türkiye and Syria.
Marko Korhonen, the official of the Finnish Red Cross, which has been working in each international locations, mentioned, “There is a need for basic things right now. These are protection from the cold weather, clean water, food and emotional support.”
Korhonen added: “We are ready to increase our aid depending on the support needed by the Turkish and Syrian Red Crescents in the field. In addition to the 300,000 euro support, we are ready to send material aid, aid workers and disaster preparedness units to the region for health and logistics.”
Latvia, in the meantime, which had beforehand introduced that it could ship 70,000 euros to Türkiye, additionally acknowledged Friday that it could present extra assist.
According to the Baltic news company BNS, Latvian State Fire and Rescue Services will put together an support package deal consisting of three heated tents adjusted for winter situations, 5 lighting units and 30 steel cable reels for the lighting units.
The Latvian Emergency Medical Service will present 5,000 blankets to be despatched to Türkiye.
The value of the help package deal is calculated to be 200,000 euros.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
