Burundi Sends Rescuers to Turkiye After Deadly Earthquake

More than 35,000 people in Turkiye and 1,400 in Syria have died as a result of devastating earthquakes that hit both the countries last week, according to local authorities' statistics. As countries all around the world rushed to offer help to the earthquake-hit nations, African countries have joined relief efforts.

Burundi has sent a number of specialists in disaster management to Turkiye as part of the efforts to save earthquake victims. According to Burundi's Foreign Minister Albert Shingiro, the rescue teams consist of 10 rescue and recovery specialists.

“Taking into account the quality of the ties of friendship and cooperation with Turkiye, and the deadly earthquake that struck it, Burundi is sending a specialised natural disaster intervention team in solidarity with the brotherly people of Turkey,” Albert Shingiro outlined in his Twitter account.

Accordance to reports from the local authorities, 35,418 people in Turkiye and 1,414 in Syria have died as a result of the disastrous earthquakes that hit the two countries last week.

However, the media has estimated that the death toll has exceeded 41.000. The consequences have been catastrophic. The city of Nurdagi in the Turkish province of Gaziantep, which was severely damaged, will be completely demolished and rebuilt, the city's governor Osman Bilgin has announced.

Recently, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the country is to begin the construction of 30,000 residential buildings in the earthquake zone away from seismic fault lines in March.

Fortunately, morale has been kept high by reports of what seem to be miracles, such as rescue teams managing to save people who have been stuck under rubble for a week.

The disastrous earthquakes hit Turkiye and Syria on 6 February. Today more than a dozen countries all over the world are involved in the life-saving mission in both Turkiye and Syria. Burundi has joined fellow African nations Algeria, Egypt, Senegal, South Africa and Sudan in contributing to the rescue in Turkiye. However, it's unclear how many people are still trapped under the rubble.