KARACHI: Pakistan has dispatched another shipment of over 1,200 tons of relief goods for people affected by twin earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, an official said.
The consignment, which has been sailed off by a civil ship from Karachi, includes 8,200 winterised tents for Turkey’s quake victims, said a spokesman for the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), the nation’s disaster management authority.
“(The) NDMA sailed off 65 Containers with 1,221 tons of load through Civil Ship for quake-hit Turkey and Syria on behalf of People of Pakistan,” the spokesman said in a statement.
“Out of the 65 containers, 41 are carrying 8,200 winterized tents for Turkey and 24 containers carrying 15,000 ration bags,” he added.
The ship will drop off the aid containers to Turkey on March 23 and Syria by the end of the month.
Pakistan, he said, is spearheading “massive” relief operations for the earthquake victims of the two brotherly countries by utilizing all available modes of transportation, including air, sea, and road.
Pakistan will also launch a “special chartered cargo flights operation” soon to transport relief goods to Turkey for the earthquake victims, he said, adding that “assistance is also being sent using belly space of PIA on regular flights to Turkey.”
Apart from the fresh shipment of relief supplies, Pakistan has already sent nearly 9,000 winterized tents and over 60,000 blankets to Turkey through state-run Pakistan International Airlines and road routes.
On February 28, a Pakistan Navy ship carrying 1,000 tons of relief goods for the earthquake victims departed for Turkey.
Moreover, Pakistani charities, including Al-Khidmat Foundation, Edhi Foundation, Baitussalam Welfare Trust, Sailani Welfare Trust, and Pakistan Red Crescent, have also been engaged in relief and rescue efforts in the earthquake-hit regions of Turkey and Syria.
More than 45,000 people died in Turkey in the magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 earthquakes on February 6. The earthquakes, which were centered in the province of Kahramanmaras, affected more than 13 million people across 11 provinces, including Hatay, Adana, Gaziantep, Diyarbakir, Adiyaman, Malatya, Kilis, Osmaniye, Elazig, and Sanliurfa.
