At the behest of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and the direction of His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the Kuwaiti Cabinet pledged USD 30 million in aid of the quake-struck people in Turkiye and Syria. The funding includes USD 15 million for the disaster relief in Syria and an equal sum for Turkiye, the Cabinet said in a press release on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Minister of Amiri Diwan Affairs Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah Al- Mubarak Al-Sabah visited the Turkish embassy in Kuwait on Thursday morning to convey the condolences of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, His Highness Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah as well as the government and people of Kuwait, over the victims of the earthquake that struck Turkiye’s southern Kahramanmaras Province on Monday.

Elsewhere, Kuwait’s Fire Force Colonel Ayman Al-Mufareh, said Wednesday that his team has started search and rescue operations in the earthquake-affected sites and affected areas in Turkiye. Al-Mufareh, who is also head of Kuwait Fire Force delegation there, said in a statement to KUNA that the Kuwaiti team is currently in Islaheya area, one of the areas severely affected by quake that struck Turkiye recently. He explained that the Kuwaiti search and rescue team consists of 45 members, including 40 rescuers, three medics, and two people from the Ministry of Information (a reporter and a photographer) to document and publish information on an up-to-date basis.

“Search and rescue teams are currently being dispatched to collapsed buildings,” he added. He explained that the Kuwaiti search and rescue team is currently conducting search operations in one of the buildings consisting of eight floors, indicating that according to the information, the building contains 60 people under the rubble. “There is no information yet that there are survivors in the building,” Colonel Al-Mufareh added, stressing that they are making great efforts to penetrate the collapsed roofs and go into the delicate parts inside the building and try to reach any survivors.

Al-Mufareh stressed search and rescue operations will continue and will not stop until they contribute to removing survivors trapped under the rubble. Kuwait has sent two more military planes carrying 80 tons of relief, medical and food supplies to Turkiye in the aftermath of a magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck the country on Monday. The fresh Kuwaiti aid comes at the behest of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, who had instructed creating an air bridge to dispatch humanitarian and relief aid to Turkiye’s quake affected people, said the Ministry of Defense in a statement.

Kuwait on Monday sent two military planes carrying rescuers and eight tons of relief supplies to quake-hit areas in Turkiye on the same day the powerful earthquake struck southern Turkiye and northern Syria, leaving thousands of people dead or injured. Kuwait’s relief aid is being sent to Turkiye as part of cooperation and coordination among the Kuwaiti military, ministries of defense, foreign affairs and health, Kuwait Red Crescent Society and charities, the ministry said.

Kuwait has wasted no time in responding to humanitarian appeals for those who have been affected by the recent powerful earthquake that struck southern Turkiye and northern Syria. Kuwait has already dispatched relief aid and rescuers to quake-hit areas, with its charities carrying on sending further humanitarian aid in a bid to ease out the aftershocks of this calamity.

Direct Aid Society’s Director-General Abdullah Al-Sumait told KUNA that his charity had so far raised more than KD 700,000 (around USD 2.2 million) with a view to alleviating the reflections of this humanitarian tragedy. Al-Salam Humanitarian and Charity said that immediately following the earthquake that hit Turkiye and Syria on Monday and caused heavy casualties and damage in both countries, its relief teams had moved to deliver humanitarian aid to quake-affected people.(KUNA)

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