Just one day after two additional earthquakes shook the area, two top German ministers visited the earthquake-damaged Turkish-Syrian border region and vowed to continue to help aid and restoration operations.
“Our sympathy is not exhausted in words and it will not diminish when the catastrophe and its consequences are replaced by other headlines in the news,” Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock promised on Tuesday.
Baerbock spoke during a joint visit with Interior Minister Nancy Faeser to south-eastern Turkey.
Faeser assured the region of Germany’s “deeply felt solidarity” in the face of the tens of thousands of victims.
“The survivors, who have lost everything, need winter-proof shelters quickly,” she said before departing for the visit.
Germany was quick to send considerable amounts of aid to the region.
The EU country has a special relationship with Turkey, as it is home to the largest community in the Turkish diaspora.
The German army has delivered more than 340 tons of aid to Turkey on 20 flights.
On Tuesday, its air force is set to transport 13 more tons of supplies to Turkey.
Included are 100 tents, 400 camp beds, and more than 1,000 sleeping bags.
On Feb. 6, two strong quakes hit south-eastern Turkey and northern Syria.
More than 47,000 have died in the disaster so far, with more than 41,000 in Turkey alone.
One day before the ministers’ visit, two more quakes occurred, three minutes apart, measuring 6.4 and 5.8 in magnitude, according to AFAD, Turkey’s disaster management agency.
Three people are reported to have died, with hundreds more being injured as the quakes hit the already disaster-struck region. (dpa/NAN)