El Salvador will provide humanitarian aid to Türkiye by sending more than 100 troops to search for and rescue the Turkish population that was affected by two earthquakes that occurred between Sunday and Monday, as reported by the President of the Republic, Nayib Bukele.
“In the next few hours, El Salvador will send an aid plane with more than 100 troops to Türkiye, along with search and rescue teams, civil protection, firefighters, and rescue dogs,” Bukele wrote on his Twitter account.
“We continue to pray for the Turkish people, who suffered from two devastating earthquakes,” the president said.
The magnitude 7.8 and 7.6 Richter earthquakes that struck southern Türkiye killed over 4,000 people, injured 15,000, and destroyed over 5,000 structures.The second earthquake was recorded nine hours after the first.
After what happened in southern Türkiye, President Bukele sent his condolences to the Turkish people and expressed all the support from El Salvador. “El Salvador prays for the safety and well-being of the Turkish people after the strong earthquake in southern Turkey. My government is willing to provide all the necessary help to the Government of President @RTErdogan to overcome this disastrous event,” the president posted on Twitter.
El Salvador has a team specialized in operations that include the location, stabilization, and extraction of people trapped in confined spaces or under rubble, due to collapsed structures caused by phenomena such as earthquakes, landslides, and accidents, among others.
The USAR El Salvador Group, as it is called, has worked to respond to this type of emergency, providing support in search and rescue efforts in international missions following the tragedies caused by the earthquakes in Haiti, Ecuador, and Mexico, where they joined other USAR groups from various countries.
The director of Civil Protection, Luis Alonso Amaya, also expressed his condolences to the people of Turkey this afternoon and said that El Salvador was in a position to provide humanitarian assistance when ordered by President Bukele.
«I’d like to express my heartfelt condolences for the human tragedies in Turkey.We join the condolences that President Nayib Bukele has already given. As a Civil Protection System, we are very attentive to what is happening,” said Amaya.
The official spoke to the people of Turkey, explaining that the country “is with them and we are attentive to what the president can order us to do to provide humanitarian assistance,” he explained.
The Bukele government administration has had an effective relationship with several countries, including Turkey. Last year, on his first state visit in 2022, President Bukele met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
The President of Turkey detailed that six agreements were signed between the two leaders to improve relations between the two nations. The signed agreements are focused on the investment of Turkish companies in port areas and in a dry channel; as well as other projects that include the construction of a geothermal plant and military equipment.