Skopje, 14 February 2023 (MIA) - Humanitarian aid collected by North Macedonia's Red Cross headed Tuesday to the earthquake-hit areas in Türkiye and Syria. Sait Saiti, Secretary General of the Red Cross, said that Mden 25,120,773 and two trucks carrying 800 food packages, 1,700 hygiene packages and 4,000 blankets, all collected up until today, will be leaving the country.

Turkish Ambassador to Skopje, Hasan Mehmet Sekizkök, said that with the help of various NGOs, companies and friends in the country, 850 tons of food, 53 tons of clothes, 27 tons of hygiene products, 4,360 blankets, 186 heaters, 37 tents and 18 aggregates have been delivered so far.

"We are here today with the Turkish Ambassador to send the initial humanitarian aid consisting of 800 food packages, 1,700 hygiene packages and 4,000 blankets,” Saiti said at a press conference held Tuesday.

He added that this was the initial aid and is hopeful that additional aid will be provided in cooperation with companies. He appealed for the aid to be donated in accordance with the need of the affected people, according to consultative meetings with the Red Crescent, and the organization said that people need blankets, tents, sleeping bags, gas lamps, etc.

“We appeal for food and hygiene packages to be donated again, but we need the items to be new, in accordance with charity work standards,” Saiti noted.

Ambassador Sekizkök expressed his gratitude for North Macedonia’s solidarity in overcoming these difficult times. The Turkish Ambassador said there are deeply rooted historical relations between North Macedonia and Türkiye, which are once again affirmed with today’s event.

“The people of Türkiye will forever remember this solidarity,” he said.

The Ambassador said that close to EUR 1 million have been transferred to Türkiye, but there is also a wide-scale campaign for material and financial aid.

“We are witnessing the financial aid decided in municipal councils, including chambers of commerce, the Chamber of Doctors and a series of other institutions and establishments in the country, as well as our brothers and friends from this country that have been organizing large-scale campaigns to help the affected regions. We also had a TV program on a national television where a campaign was organized to collect funds. We don’t currently know how much money has been collected through this program, but we are convinced that this aid will continue in the upcoming period,” the Ambassador said.

He is also grateful to the rescue teams coming from all over the world, saying that their contribution is crucial in the achievement of this level of rescue activities, and their names will be written in gold in the history of Türkiye and the hearts of its people.

The Ambassador said that there is currently no need for additional rescue teams.

Saiti added that the entire logistics organization has been a donation from two companies: Translog DOEL Skopje and International Logistic ART DOEL Skopje.

“Up until yesterday, we collected Mden 25,125,000, of which 12,900,000 were collected from phone calls, and the rest from payments to the Red Cross’ bank account,” Saiti said.

The death toll from the 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes that hit Türkiye and Syria, with its epicenter in Kahramanmaraş has climbed over 36,000. Ten regions, where over 13 million people lived, were affected by the “disaster of the century”, as dubbed in Türkiye. dk/nn/