BRUSSELS

A cathedral in Belgium played the Turkish national anthem on Friday to show solidarity with the quake-hit nation. 

Antwerp Municipality held a ceremony in front of the historical Cathedral of Our Lady to commemorate those killed by two powerful earthquakes in Türkiye earlier this week.

Mayor Bart De Wever, Türkiye's Antwerp Consul General Batu Keskin and many Turks living in the city attended.

The anthem was played with church bells to show solidarity with the people of Türkiye.

The Turkish flag was also hoisted in front of Antwerp Castle, the oldest building in the city, and was lowered to half-staff.

Antwerp Municipality donated €20,000 (over $21,000) to help victims and will send a firefighter representing the city to the aid team that departed from Belgium to Türkiye.

More than 20,300 people have died and over 80,000 others are injured since Monday’s powerful earthquakes in southern Türkiye, according to the latest figures.

The 7.7- and 7.6-magnitude earthquakes, centered in Türkiye's Kahramanmaras province, have affected 13 million people across 10 Turkish provinces, including Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye and Sanliurfa.

In neighboring Syria, the death toll has climbed above 3,300, with more than 5,200 wounded.