In solidarity with its neighbor Turkey, Greece has begun a countrywide drive to collect relief goods for earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria, Greek media reported Friday, in addition to trucks that already set off Friday from Athens with 40 tons of aid from the Greek Red Cross.
The campaign will be carried out in coordination with the Central Union of Municipalities in Greece (KEDE) and 13 regional unions of municipalities, according to public broadcaster ERT.
Citizens have been asked to donate essential materials, including, but not limited to, blankets, flashlights, sleeping bags, personal hygiene items, dry food and baby food, the report said.
Donations will be collected at city halls in various areas throughout the nation.
Several other public institutions, including ministries and governorships, trade unions and citizens’ groups are already conducting more aid drives in numerous cities of Greece, the report added.
The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 earthquakes, centered in the Kahramanmaraş province, have impacted some 13 million people across 10 Turkish provinces, including Adana, Adıyaman, Diyarbakır, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye and Şanlıurfa.
Meanwhile, three Hellenic Red Cross trucks loaded with 40 tons of relief supplies such as beds, tents, blankets, kitchen utensils, food, water, medical supplies and hygiene products, left the Greek capital Athens this morning.
Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Andreas Katsaniotis, who was put in charge of organizing institutions and individuals who want to send humanitarian aid to Turkey and Syria upon the instructions of Greek Prime Minister Kiryakos Mitsotakis, said in a statement to the press that the aid to Turkey is full of emotions and that the aid will continue.
Speaking to the Anadolu Agency (AA), Greek Red Cross President Antonis Avyeniros stated that the Greek Red Cross Institution has been in contact with the Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay) since the first day to determine the urgent needs of earthquake victims.
Avyeniros said, “The Greek Red Cross is always with our friends in Turkey. We have great cooperation with the Turkish Red Crescent. Not just now, but always. We are in full coordination with the Red Crescent,” he said.
Avyeniros stated that the trucks are planned to reach the earthquake zone after a 3.5-day journey and noted that they plan to send aid to the earthquake victims in this way with many convoys from now on.
Underlining that these consignments are also a message of friendship and solidarity, Avyeniros said, “We will be by their side (earthquake victims) as much as necessary.”
Yorgos Stamatis, the general secretary of Social Solidarity of the Greek Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, said: “We are here to support. We are brothers. We are united in every difficulty. I hope everything will be healed as soon as possible.”
Thousands of Greeks have responded to calls for aid to quake-hit Turkey, reviving memories of how a spontaneous outpouring of help after a similar disaster in 1999 brought the neighbors together when they seemed to be on the brink of war.
At the Athens offices of the Greek Red Cross, sleeping bags, blankets, milk cans and boxes of medicine are piling up, the organization’s spokesperson Konstantinos Gavriilidis said.
The Greek government has separately sent more than 200 tons of medical and first aid equipment.
NATO allies Turkey and Greece have a history of rivalry that goes back centuries. But the two countries that lie on seismic fault lines also have a tradition of helping each other in quake emergencies. Greece was among the first European countries to send rescue workers and humanitarian aid on Monday, a few hours after the disaster.
“We must make all our forces available to Turkey,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Monday. A day later, he tweeted in Turkish: “Greeks and Turks are fighting side by side, together to save lives.”
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