Arabs in Israel prepare relief aid to quake victims in Türkiye, Syria

JERUSALEM

Arab citizens in Israel have established an emergency room to provide relief aid to people affected by a powerful earthquake that struck Türkiye and Syria on Monday.

“We have communicated with official institutions in Türkiye to provide urgent aid,” Ghazi Issa, the director of the Association of Relief in the 1948 Lands, told Anadolu.

“We are preparing to send a delegation to follow the situation closely as well as dispatching medics to set up a field hospital on the Turkish-Syria border,” he added.

Issa said his organization already has teams dispatched inside Syria to provide help to those affected by the quake.

“We have also launched a fund-raising campaign to provide help to those affected,” he added.

According to Issa, his organization will start distributing tents and heating tools to those affected by the quake inside Türkiye within hours.

A 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck southeastern Türkiye early Monday, killing at least 1,014 people and injuring 5,385 others, according to the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD).

At least 592 people were also killed and hundreds injured in Syria from the quake, according to figures by the Syrian regime's Health Ministry and Syrian Civil Defense.

AFAD said the quake struck at 4.17 a.m. (0117GMT) and was centered in the Pazarcik district in Türkiye’s southern province of Kahramanmaras.

Later on Monday, a new 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck southern Türkiye, which, this time, was centered in the Elbistan district of Kahramanmaras, AFAD said.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara