UN, WHO dispatch forces, medical aid for quake-hit Turkey

After a terrible 7.8 magnitude earthquake took many lives in Turkey, the United Nations (UN) and World Health Organization (WHO) sent emergency response teams and medical teams for rescue and assistance.
Emergency response teams from the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) are sent to Turkey to help the nation in trying times, according to CNN and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA).

Additionally, the Emergency Medical Teams (EMTs) of the WHO are being sent to Turkey to help with the humanitarian effort. According to CNN, the United States declared it will send two search and rescue units to Turkey, while the European Union had just started its crisis response system.

The Russian Defense Ministry reports that more than 300 people from 10 Russian army units are clearing debris and helping with search and rescue operations in Syria. Japan has sent its Disaster Relief Rescue Team to Turkey in response to the earthquake, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated on Monday.

“Upon the request of the Government of Turkey, and in light of humanitarian perspective and Japan’s friendship relations with Turkey, Japan has decided to provide this emergency assistance to Turkey to meet its humanitarian needs,” CNN reported citing the statement.

Three deadly earthquakes with magnitudes of 7.8, 7.6, and 6.0 struck Turkey and Syria on Monday. Three deadly earthquakes with magnitudes of 7.8, 7.6, and 6.0 struck Turkey and Syria on Monday. Numerous strong aftershocks, including one measured at 7.5 magnitudes on Monday afternoon in the same fault zone of south-central Turkey, were felt after the initial 7.8-magnitude earthquake. Southern Turkey and northern and central Syria have sustained the majority of the damage.

Over 4,000 people have died as a result of the strong earthquakes that struck Turkey and neighbouring Syria on Monday, according to the Washington Post. It is the most powerful earthquake to have struck Turkey in over ten years. Numerous medical teams have been attending to the injured as thousands of emergency responders have been looking for persons among the building debris.