Day: February 9, 2023

Lithuania on Thursday sent a rescue team and vital supplies to support ongoing earthquake relief efforts in Türkiye.

The team consists of 42 members, including 34 firefighters, five paramedics, and three dog handlers, according to an official statement, while the humanitarian aid includes essential supplies for earthquake victims.

“The scale of the disaster in Türkiye calls for action from the international community, and Lithuania has responded to Türkiye’s request for assistance by sending a team of specialists to contribute to the urgent search and rescue efforts and to help the victims,” said Chancellor Giedre Balcytyte.

“The team is equipped with vital items, medicines, and equipment, which are urgently needed at this time for those who have lost their homes and are in need of basic necessities,” she added.

Saulius Greicius, head of the country’s Fire and Rescue Department, said the team “is made up of the best of the best and they will have two weeks for their work in Türkiye.”

A total of 90 tents, 50 electric heaters, 1,000 bedding sets, 1,000 pillows, and 7,700 blankets will also be delivered to Türkiye, the statement said.

“The total material value of the humanitarian aid to be sent to Türkiye approved by the government amounts to €528,000 ($568,000),” it added.

Teams from at least 24 European countries are involved in ongoing relief efforts in southern Türkiye, where more than 16,500 people have been killed and over 66,100 injured after two powerful earthquakes on Monday, according to latest official figures.

The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 earthquakes, centered in the Kahramanmaras province, have impacted some 13 million people across 10 Turkish provinces, including Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, and Sanliurfa.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Volunteers across Türkiye continued to pour into Iskenderun in southern Türkiye on Thursday to assist in search and rescue efforts and distribute aid to earthquake survivors who were left homeless.

Iskenderun is only one of several heavily damaged areas of southernmost Hatay province which was rocked by two earthquakes Monday, leaving more than 14,350 people dead.

University student Ahmet Gokberk Ersan, 24, from nearby Mersin province, raced to Iskenderun as soon as the first earthquake struck.

"I have several friends who were living here," Ersan told Anadolu as he watched anxiously while rescue teams sifted through the rubble of a collapsed building.

"But regardless of whether I knew them or not, my only focus right now is to help save lives," he said.

"Volunteer rescue workers are sparing no effort," he added. "But they’re working with limited resources."

Another volunteer who preferred not to give his name said the chances of finding survivors were becoming “increasingly slim.”

"But we’re not ready to give up hope yet," he said.

On Thursday, 2-year-old Mert Tatar was rescued in Hatay province, 79 hours after the 7.7- and 7.6-magnitude earthquakes struck.

Hazal, 5, and her mother Betul Guner were rescued from the debris of a destroyed apartment building in the Antakya district of the city after 72 hours. And 3-year-old Eya Haddap was rescued after 70 hours.

Teams saved a father and his daughter from the same site.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited quake-hit areas, including Hatay, on Wednesday, one day after Türkiye announced a three-month state of emergency to speed up search and rescue operations.

Türkiye also declared seven days of national mourning after the devastating quakes, which left 16,170 people dead and 64,194 injured.

"This earthquake is the third-largest to occur since the 1668 Great Anatolia earthquake and the 1939 Erzincan earthquake in the last 2,000 years on the Anatolian geography," Vice President Fuat Oktay said Thursday.

Harold Tobin, director of US-based Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, said the two quakes, which were centered in Türkiye’s Kahramanmaras province, were among the most destructive seen anywhere in the past century.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The Chinese balloon downed by the US last weekend was part of a sprawling fleet likely operated by Beijing’s military to conduct surveillance operations worldwide, the Biden administration said Thursday.

The fleet has been used to surveil more than 40 countries across five continents and the US is currently in the process of contacting affected nations to discuss the matter, a State Department official said on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of disclosures.

The high-altitude balloons are set up to collect sensitive information, including communications, and the equipment they carry is "inconsistent with the equipment onboard weather balloons," said the official.

The US assessment is based in part on high-resolution imagery of the balloon collected by U-2 reconnaissance planes as the balloon transversed the US beginning last week at an altitude of more than 60,000 feet (18,288 meters), much higher than most planes are capable of flying. That necessitated the use of the Cold War-era U-2s, which can reach altitudes up to 70,000 feet.

The US released its assessment meant to publicly refute China's narrative that the aircraft was a weather balloon that had been blown off course. Washington's downing of the balloon Saturday has further exacerbated US-Sino tensions as Beijing maintained its narrative and claimed the US was overreacting.

"From the PRC’s messaging and public comments, it’s clear that they have been scrambling to explain why they violated U.S. sovereignty and still have no plausible explanation – and have found themselves on their heels," said the State Department official.

The US is "confident" that the balloon manufacturer "has a direct relationship with China’s military and is an approved vendor of the" Chinese military, formally known as the People's Liberation Army (PLA), said the official. The assessment is based on information published in an official procurement portal for the PLA.

"The company also advertises balloon products on its website and hosts videos from past flights, which appear to have overflown at least US airspace and airspace of other countries," the official said in an emailed statement.

"These advertised balloon videos seemingly have similar flight patterns as the balloons we have been discussing this week," it said.

The company was not explicitly identified but the official said the Biden administration is weighing potential sanctions on "entities linked to the PLA that supported the balloon’s incursion into U.S. airspace."

Source: Anadolu Agency

The number of Americans filing first-time unemployment claims rose 13,000 last week to 196,000, according to Labor Department data released Thursday.

The figure was higher than estimates of 190,000, while the previous week's figure was unrevised at 183,000.

The four-week moving average was 189,250, a decline of 2,500 from the previous week's unrevised average of 191,750.

The US economy added 517,000 jobs in January, while the unemployment rate fell to 3.4% from 3.5% the previous month, according to the agency.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Teams from 24 European countries are involved in search and rescue efforts in Türkiye’s quake-hit areas, the EU said on Thursday.

A total of 38 teams from 21 EU countries and Albania, Serbia, and Montenegro have been dispatched to Türkiye, the European Commission said in a statement.

Some 1,650 personnel, including rescuers and medics, have been sent, along with 104 search dogs, according to the statement.

European teams have so far rescued 36 people from the rubble of buildings in the disaster area, it added.

The statement said the EU will also send 500 temporary accommodation units, 2,000 tents, and 10,500 beds.

More than 16,500 people have been killed and over 66,100 injured after two powerful earthquakes jolted southern Türkiye on Monday, according to the latest official figures.

The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 earthquakes, centered in the Kahramanmaras province, have impacted some 13 million people across 10 Turkish provinces.

Source: Anadolu Agency

NATO on Thursday said it continues to provide assistance to ally Türkiye after powerful earthquakes that hit the country's southern region.

"Alliance military transport aircraft are facilitating the rapid movement of essential support to the worst hit #earthquake areas," NATO Air Command said on Twitter.

It added that support includes search and rescue teams with dogs, emergency personnel as well as supplies.

Earlier, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said allies were mobilizing support "in the aftermath of this terrible earthquake."

The NATO Allied Land Command (LANDCOM) had also conveyed its sympathies to the quake victims.

On Tuesday, NATO member states lowered their flags to half-staff at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels to show solidarity with Ankara.

More than 16,000 people were killed and over 64,000 injured by two strong earthquakes which jolted southern Türkiye on Monday, latest official figures showed.

The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 quakes, centered in the Kahramanmaras province, affected 13 million people across 10 provinces, including Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, and Sanliurfa.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who visited the quake-affected regions on Wednesday and Thursday, has pledged to rebuild the region within a year as search and rescue efforts continue uninterruptedly.

A three-month state of emergency to speed up aid operations entered into force on Thursday.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The next EU sanctions package will target "Russian state propagandists" and extend the export ban to items worth over €10 billion ($10.8 billion), the president of the European Commission said on Thursday.

Ursula von der Leyen spoke at a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and head of the European Council Charles Michel after Zelenkyy’s meeting with the 27 EU leaders.

“Russia must pay for the destruction caused and for the blood spilled,” von der Leyen said, announcing that the EU will soon adopt the 10th sanctions package in response to Russia's war on Ukraine.

She stressed that besides extending the bloc’s blacklist to a “number of political and military leaders,” the EU “will target (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s propagandists because their lies are poisoning the public space in Russia and abroad.”

Von der Leyen explained that they included the new names on the sanctions list upon the request of the Ukrainian government following their talks last week in Kyiv.

The new sanctions package will also include an additional export ban worth over €10 billion which “will further starve Russia's military machine and continue to shake the foundation of its economy,” von der Leyen added.

She also asserted that the EU “fully backs” Zelenskyy’s peace formula, and stressed that Ukraine has the right to a “just peace.”

For his part, Zelenskyy thanked the European member states for providing aid defense system but asked for further sanctions targeting the Russian military industry and its suppliers, including missile and drone manufacturers, and the IT sector.

“The European Union is Ukraine, Ukraine is the European Union,” said Michel.

He explained that the EU leaders discussed military and political support for Ukraine, as well the prospect of EU accession at the joint session.

Later in the day, Zelenskyy will hold bilateral meetings with the European leaders.

Since the beginning of Russia’s war against Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, the EU and its member states have provided €50 billion in direct support to Ukraine, including more than €12 billion in military aid.

The EU has imposed nine sanctions packages against Russia, targeting, among others, Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, banning gold, oil, and coal imports and the export of luxury goods and high-tech technology, as well as excluding Russian and Belarusian banks from the SWIFT international payment system.

Source: Anadolu Agency