Turkey at the forefront to help flood victims

ISLAMABAD: Twelve military aircraft and four Kindness Trains loaded with relief supplies, including thousands of tents, emergency food items, medicines, boats, kitchen items and baby food for flood victims have so far arrived in Pakistan from Turkey.

The Turkish Red Crescent has also dispatched two trucks loaded with relief supplies. Turkish Ambassador to Pakistan Dr Mehmet Pacaci is personally supervising the relief activities. Turkish sources told The News here on Wednesday that Turk organisations were at the forefront to help those affected by floods which killed about 1,500 people and destroyed infrastructure. The first team of the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) arrived in Pakistan on August 7, when the flood hit Balochistan and Sindh. Another team of 20 members arrived after a massive flood hit Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh in the last week of August. Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, along with Minister of Environment and Urbanisation Murat Kurum and heads of several Turkish relief organisations, was among the first foreign delegations arriving in Pakistan after floods to show solidarity with the government and people of Pakistan and monitor the devastation caused by floods.

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan greeted his Turk counterpart and briefed him about the devastation. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, during a phone call with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday, thanked the brotherly country for extending humanitarian aid to flood-battered people across the country. Describing the gesture as “the truest tradition of Pakistan-Turkey exemplary relationship,” Shehbaz expressed his gratitude for the recent visit of Soylu and Kurum, as well as heads of several Turkish relief organisations, to monitor the devastation caused by floods, said a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.

When an AFAD team visited the Mirpur Khas district in Sindh last week to distribute food and other items among victims, locals and officials thanked them for coming at such a difficult time. Thousands of people living in tents on both sides of roads in the district are facing a shortage of drinking water and food as the areas are still submerged, destroying the drinking water system in the entire region. The AFAD team was flanked by a Pakistan Army officer who said authorities were clearing the areas to allow the victims to return homes. “We are thankful to President Erdogan, the people of Turkey and all Turkish organisations for helping us at this difficult time,” he said, adding that he saluted President Erdogan and all Turkish people who stood by Pakistan in every difficult time.