An initial $85 million package for emergency relief after a devastating earthquake in Turkiye and Syria has been announced by the United States on Thursday.
According to the US Agency for International Development, the funding will go to partners on the ground “to deliver urgently needed aid for millions of people” including through food, shelter and emergency health services and also support safe drinking water and sanitation to prevent the outbreak of disease.
The announcement was made after the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier Thursday spoke by telephone with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to discuss NATO’s ally needs.
“We are proud to join the global efforts to help Turkiye just as Turkiye has so often contributed its own humanitarian rescue experts to so many other countries in the past,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters as he described the call.
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The United States has already sent rescue teams to Turkiye and has contributed concrete breakers, generators, water purification systems and helicopters, officials said.
Assistance in Syria is going through local partners as the United States refuses to deal with Syrian President Bashar Assad as Washington demands accountability over abuses during the brutal civil war.
Story was adapted from Arab News.
