A second Taiwanese emergency team departed last night to help with disaster relief operations after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Turkey and Syria on Monday morning.
The group is composed of 90 personnel and two search-and-rescue dogs. The first team of 40 personnel and three dogs left on Monday night.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that it was increasing its donation to Turkey to US$2 million, from the US$200,000 it announced on Monday.
Photo courtesy of the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism
Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) confirmed that a Taiwanese family of three trapped in a collapsed building in Turkey had been rescued and were safe.
Local media reports said they were being housed at the Taiwan-Reyhanli Centre for World Citizens in Turkey. The center, built in 2020 with funding from the Taiwanese government, serves Syrian refugees and Turkish nationals, and is being used to temporarily house victims of the quake.
The Tourism Bureau said that all 414 tourists from 17 Taiwanese tour groups were safe.
Photo: AFP
Turkey’s trade office in Taiwan called for donations of winter clothing and other necessities to help quake victims.
The office said donations of winter clothing for adults and children, such as overcoats, pants, sweaters, gloves, scarves, socks, underwear, hats, boots and raincoats were urgently needed to assist those affected by the earthquake.
Beds, sleeping pads, sleeping bags, mattresses, blankets, thermoses, flashlights, diapers, sanitary pads, and cleaning and hygiene items are also welcome, it said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The office advised people wishing to send in-kind assistance to people in need in Turkey to contact the office at tr-office.taipei@mfa.gov.tr with information on what they will send, and the weight and quantity of the items.
Search teams and emergency aid from other parts of the world yesterday continued to pour into Turkey and Syria as rescuers working in freezing temperatures dug through the remains of buildings flattened by the quake. The death toll soared above 5,000 and was still expected to rise.
More than 8,000 people have been pulled from the debris in Turkey alone, and about 380,000 have taken refuge in government shelters or hotels, Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
They huddled in shopping malls, stadiums, mosques and community centers, while others spent the night outside in blankets gathering around fires.
Many took to social media to plead for assistance for loved ones believed to be trapped under the rubble — and Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency quoted Turkish Ministry of the Interior officials as saying all calls were being “collected meticulously” and the information relayed to search teams.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said 13 million of the country’s 85 million were affected in some way — and declared a state of emergency in 10 provinces to manage the response.
For the entire quake-hit area, that number could be as high as 23 million people, said Adelheid Marschang, a senior emergencies officer with the WHO.
Teams from nearly 30 countries around the world headed for Turkey or Syria.
As promises of help flooded in, Turkey said it would only allow vehicles carrying aid to enter the worst-hit provinces of Kahramanmaras, Adiyaman and Hatay to speed up the effort.
The UN said it was “exploring all avenues” to get supplies to rebel-held northwestern Syria, where millions live in extreme poverty and rely on humanitarian aid to survive.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it is expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong this afternoon and a land warning tomorrow. As of 1pm, the storm was about 1,070km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, and was moving west-northwest at 28 to 32kph, according to CWA data. The storm had a radius of 250km, with maximum sustained winds of 173kph and gusts reaching 209kph, the CWA added. The storm is forecast to pass near Luzon in the Philippines before entering the South China Sea and potentially turning northward toward Taiwan, the CWA said. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said
PREPARATION: Ferry lines and flights were canceled ahead of only the second storm to hit the nation in November, while many areas canceled classes and work Authorities yesterday evacuated more than 3,000 people ahead of approaching Tropical Storm Fung-wong, which is expected to make landfall between Kaohsiung and Pingtung County this evening. Fung-wong was yesterday morning downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm as it approached the nation’s southwest coast, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, as it issued a land alert for the storm. The alert applies to residents in Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung and Taitung counties, and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春). As of press time last night, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Yilan, Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin, Pingtung and Penghu counties, as well as Chiayi city and county had
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday issued a sea alert for Typhoon Fung-wong (鳳凰) as it threatened vessels operating in waters off the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島), the Bashi Channel and south of the Taiwan Strait. A land alert is expected to be announced some time between late last night and early this morning, the CWA said. As of press time last night, Taoyuan, as well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties had declared today a typhoon day, canceling work and classes. Except for a few select districts in Taipei and New Taipei City, all other areas and city
VIOLATION OF NORMS: China’s CCTV broadcast claimed that Beijing could use Interpol to issue arrest warrants, which the MAC slammed as an affront to order The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for attempts to intimidate Taiwanese through “transnational repression.” The council issued the remarks after state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) yesterday during a news broadcast aired a video targeting Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋), threatening him with “cross-border repression” and saying: “Stop now, or you will be next,” in what Taipei officials said was an attempt to intimidate not only Shen, but also the broader Taiwanese public. The MAC in a statement condemned the threat, accusing Beijing of trying to instill fear and self-censorship among Taiwanese and
RSS