China said it will do its best to provide assistance to Turkey and Syria after a devastating earthquake struck the region Monday, killing more than 5,000 people and injuring over 24,000 across both countries.
The first batch of aid to Turkey will be 40 million Chinese yuan ($5.9 million), while also dispatching rescue and medical teams, and emergency supplies, the spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) Mao Ning said Tuesday.
Beijing is coordinating with Syria for emergency supplies and accelerating the implementation of ongoing food aid projects, Mao added.
So far no Chinese citizens have been reported killed in the earthquake, China’s MOFA also confirmed.
Chinese President Xi Jinping sent condolences to his Turkish and Syrian counterparts, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Bashar al-Assad, on Monday, according to state media Xinhua, as rescuers search for survivors in the rubble of flattened buildings.
