18 January 2010 / TODAY’S ZAMAN, ANKARA
Turkey has offered $1 million for relief efforts in Haiti, which was struck Tuesday by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake that is estimated to have killed tens of thousands of people.
With the Haitian government saying up to 200,000 people may have been killed, the quake could be one of the 10 deadliest in history. In addition to providing the cash assistance, Turkey has dispatched 40 tons of urgent humanitarian relief and a 10-member team of the Turkish Search and Rescue Society (AKUT), a civil society organization, to Haiti on four military planes, the Turkish Foreign Ministry announced in a written statement released on Saturday. The relief includes a mobile hospital, medical supplies, tents, blankets, kitchen sets and food provided by the Health Ministry and the Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay), while Turkey is also preparing to send a 20-member health team to the disaster region. The statement noted that Turkish security members who are assigned in Haiti as part of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) and their families in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, will be evacuated from the country.
