The shipment of the new humanitarian aid, which includes four containers carrying 50 tons of basic necessities requested by the Turkish authorities as a matter of priority, is underway, as indicated in a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The items were collected by municipalities all over Greece and the "Together We Can" initiative. Its transport to the port of Patras was organised by the Central Union of Municipalities of Greece (KEDE) under the coordination of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The ceremony was attended by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Andreas Katsaniotis, who has the responsibility of coordinating all the actions of organizing, collecting and sending the humanitarian material.
The death toll from the earthquakes now stands at 43,858.
Here is a breakdown:
- At least 38,044 died in Turkey, the country’s disaster agency says.
- In Syria’s government-controlled areas, 1,414 were killed, according to the health ministry.
- About 4,400 people died in Syria’s jihadist-held northwest, a UN agency said.
Reports of miracle rescues continue to come in, with four people pulled out of collapsed buildings more than 10 days after the earthquake struck.
Rescue teams brought out 29-year-old Neslan Kilic from the rubble in Kahramanmaras after 258 hours, according to state news agency Anadolu. Doctors said she was in a stable condition and speaking.
“Thank God my sister survived,” said her brother Yusuf Yalcinoz. “May Allah give everyone such a happy moment.”
There was more delight in Ekinci as 12-year-old Osman Halebiye was brought to safety after 260 hours beneath the rubble, and an hour later in Antakya when rescuers found two men alive – Mehmet Ali Sakiroglu, 26 and Mustafa Avci, 34. Both have been taken to hospital.
There have been about 4,700 aftershocks, or one every four minutes, since the earthquakes struck last week, Orhan Tatar, general director of earthquake and risk reduction at the country’s disaster agency, told state-run Anadolu agency.
“Most of these aftershocks are palpable,” Tatar said, adding that about 40 of them were above magnitude 4.
He also said that magnitude 5 tremors may occur in the coming days.
READ MORE: Turkish citizens warmly thank Greek rescuers on their return to Greece.
