BRUSSELS, 13 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, Romania and Slovenia, in addition to Norway, have so far offered emergency aid to Syria to deal with the humanitarian crisis unleashed by the strong earthquake with its epicenter in the south of Turkey that has left more than 36,000 dead in Turkey and Syria.
According to the latest balance of the European Commission, up to nine Member States apart from Norway have offered Syria thousands of tents, warm clothing, sleeping bags, mattresses, generators, medicines and food, among other resources.
Likewise, the European reserves of humanitarian material in Italy and Dubai have been mobilized to send emergency aid, assistance that will be channeled through international organizations.
The aid will be distributed both in areas controlled by Damascus through the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), and in non-government controlled areas in the northwest of the country, in cooperation in this case with the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The Civil Protection Mechanism coordinates at the European level the delivery of humanitarian material in the face of crises and natural disasters. This step comes after Bashar al Assad’s authorities formally asked the EU to activate the instrument and demand basic necessities for those affected.
Damascus avoided taking the step until two days after the earthquake that affected the area under the control of different opposition factions was registered, in the framework of the civil war in which Syria has been mired since 2011.
