The European Commission is coordinating the dispatch of rescue teams from Member States to join the search for survivors after the earthquake that shook southeastern Turkey and other neighboring countries, especially Syria, on Monday.
The European Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarcic, has indicated, in a message shared on the social network Twitter, that Brussels has activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism and that rescue teams from the Netherlands and Romania are already traveling to the affected zone.
“The Emergency Response Coordination Center is coordinating the dispatch of rescue teams from Europe,” said the Slovenian diplomat.
For his part, the High Representative for Foreign Affairs of the EU, Josep Borrell, stressed that the European bloc is “prepared to help” the countries affected after a “devastating” earthquake, which “has already claimed the lives of hundreds of people and injured many more.
“My condolences to the many families who lost their lives and I wish a speedy recovery to those injured. The EU is with you in its entirety,” European Council President Charles Michel said on Twitter.
Countries like Germany, Russia, Italy and Azerbaijan had already announced their intention to send rescue teams to help with the searches.
The series of earthquakes that struck south-eastern Turkey and some neighboring countries today killed hundreds of people and injured more than 2,000.
According to authorities, the largest quake had a magnitude of 7.8 on the Richter scale. This earthquake occurred at 04:17 local time (01:17 in Lisbon), 33 kilometers from the provincial capital of Gaziantep, in southeastern Turkey, originating at a depth of 17.9 kilometers.
In turn, the Syrian National Seismic Monitoring Center said that this earthquake, with its epicenter in southeastern Turkey, near the border with Syria, was the “strongest” recorded by Syrian systems in almost three decades.
Tremors were also felt in Lebanon and Cyprus, according to Agence France Presse correspondents.
Turkey is located in one of the most active seismic zones in the world.
Earthquakes are classified according to their magnitude as micro (less than 2.0), very small (2.0-2.9), small (3.0-3.9), light (4.0-4.9) , moderate (5.0-5.9), strong (6.0-6.9), large (7.0-7.9), important (8.0-8.9), exceptional (9.0 -9.9) and extreme (greater than 10).
Source: TSF
