Seoul, Feb. 8 (BNA): South Korea will provide $5 million in emergency humanitarian aid to Turkey and send a total of about 110 workers to support search and rescue work following the devastating earthquake earlier this week, according to the Foreign Ministry in Seoul. Tuesday.
The plane will also deliver medical supplies to Turkey, which was hit by a 7.8-magnitude earthquake the day before, by military transport planes, ministry spokesman Lim Su-suk told a news briefing.
The team will consist of more than 60 members of the Korea Disaster Relief Team and 50 military personnel, according to the ministry.
The decision was taken at an interagency meeting regarding Turkey’s assistance in the repercussions of the earthquake that struck the southern region of the country and Syria as well, killing thousands and injuring many more.
Earlier today, President Yun Suk Yul ordered the government to quickly send rescue workers and medical supplies to the country. Foreign Minister Park Jin spoke with Murat Temer, the Turkish ambassador to South Korea, earlier today and pledged active support for the quake-hit country.
Defense officials said the South Korean military is considering sending a KC-330 tanker transport aircraft there.
The rescue team, the largest ever sent by South Korea for emergency rescue work abroad, will depart from Incheon International Airport, the country’s main gate, later in the day, according to them.
It has mobilized aircraft on previous emergency humanitarian assistance operations, including the humanitarian mission in 2021 to evacuate nearly 400 Afghan workers and family members to South Korea.
Meanwhile, the ministry issued a travel advisory for six provinces in Turkey’s southeastern region, including Kahramanmaras, Malatya and Adiyaman, effective immediately.
The ministry added that it had located a South Korean citizen who was traveling in the affected Hatay province, near the epicenter, after he lost contact.
About 2,700 South Koreans reside in Turkey, although most of them live outside the affected areas. It added that the 11 South Koreans living in Hatay had been moved to safe places the day before.
FKN