ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on Tuesday sent a team of paramedics and rescue workers to Syria in the wake of an earthquake that hit the Arab country along with neighboring Turkiye, causing major devastation.
According to official figures, the overall death toll in the region has cross 37,000. Syria has lost over 5,800 people while more than 31,500 individuals have been killed in Turkiye which has suffered more destruction.
Pakistan top political leadership reached out to both countries while trying to help them with rescue and relief activities.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also spoke with his Syrian counterpart, Hussein Arnous, over the weekend and promised to send more humanitarian assistance.
“On the instructions of the prime minister, the NDMA has dispatched 20-member medical and rescue teams for the earthquake victims of Syria,” said an official statement released in Islamabad. “The relief delegation for Syria consists of 10 doctors from [Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences] and a 10-member rescue team from [Capital Development Authority.”
The Pakistani team has been taken to Damascus on a Pakistan International Airlines flight which is also carrying relief goods for quake-affected people.
The supplies include 131 winter family tents and 3,966 kilograms of medicines.
The official statement said the team will participate in urban search and rescue operations in the quake-hit region of Syria which is also in the midst of a war.
