"Deeply moved by the example of an anonymous Pakistani who walked into Turkish embassy in the US & donated $30 million for earthquake victims in Turkiye & Syria," the premier said in a Twitter post.
He added that, "These are such glorious acts of philanthropy that enable humanity to triumph over the seemingly insurmountable odds," he added.
https://twitter.com/CMShehbaz/status/1624339350216474626
The toll from Turkey-Syria earthquake has climbed to more than 23,000, surpassing the casualty figures from Japan’s 2011 Fukushima disaster (estimated at 19,000).
In Turkey, 20,213 people have died and 80,052 reported injured, according to the country’s Health Minister Fahrettin Koça, as per reports from Anadolu Agency.
In neighbouring Syria, at least 3,300 lives have been lost — in government and rebel-held territories — as per state media reports and the Syrian civil defence group popularly known as the ‘White Helmets’.
Meanwhile, White Helmets criticised the UN for delay in humanitarian response. “The UN has committed a crime against the Syrian people in the northwest,” the NGO chief Raed Al-Saleh said. He accused the international body of botching its earthquake rescue and relief response in rebel-held areas of northwestern Syria.
The White Helmets group said that UN agencies had not delivered any quake-specific relief to survivors in northwestern Syria since the disaster hit before dawn on Monday. The first aid convoy of the UN entered Syria on 9 February, and the second on Friday.
Experts warn that casualty figure will continue to rise.
The International Committee of the Red Cross chief Mirjana Spoljaric has called for “full humanitarian access”. In a video message from Aleppo, Syria she highlighted the “layers of suffering” of residents of the war torn city.
Meanwhile, White Helmets criticised the UN for delay in humanitarian response. “The UN has committed a crime against the Syrian people in the northwest,” the NGO chief Raed Al-Saleh said. He accused the international body of botching its earthquake rescue and relief response in rebel-held areas of northwestern Syria.
The White Helmets group said that UN agencies had not delivered any quake-specific relief to survivors in northwestern Syria since the disaster hit before dawn on Monday. The first aid convoy of the UN entered Syria on 9 February, and the second on Friday.
Leveraging years of emergency humanitarian and medical assistance experience gleaned during Syria’s over-decade-long civil war, the organisation has been spearheading rescue efforts in rebel-controlled territories with virtually zero international assistance.
“The UN must apologise to the Syrian people,” Al-Saleh demanded.