ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has sent off a convoy carrying over a dozen containers of relief goods to earthquake-hit Turkiye and Syria, authorities said on Saturday, as the death toll in the two countries rose above 28,000. 

Five days after two powerful earthquakes hours apart caused thousands of buildings to collapse, rescuers were still pulling unlikely survivors from the ruins. 

The United Nations has warned that at least 870,000 people urgently need hot meals across Turkiye and Syria. In Syria alone, up to 5.3 million people may have been made homeless. 

“1st road convoy loaded with winterised tents & blankets for Quake-Hit Syria & Turkiye sent off through 16 NLC containers from Lahore today,” Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said on Twitter. 

“Mr. Emir Ozbay Consul General of Turkiye were present @ sending off event.” 

The trucks will reach Turkiye via Iran in around 10 days, according to the NDMA, which has planned more relief assistance for both countries through all possible means of transportation in the coming days. 

Islamabad has so far dispatched about 200 tons of relief goods, including 18 tons of winterized tents, via different flights of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and the Pakistan Air Force (PAF), state-run APP news agency reported. 

The request for tents was made by the Turkish government to save hundreds of thousands of the quake-affected people who were bracing the severe cold. 

Almost 26 million people have been affected by the earthquake, the World Health Organization (WHO) said as it launched a flash appeal on Saturday for $42.8 million to cope with immediate health needs. 

It warned that dozens of hospitals had been damaged.