The Diplomat
The Spanish government yesterday expressed its solidarity with the victims of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, which caused around 600 deaths, and announced the “immediate” mobilization of troops and drones of the Military Emergency Unit to help in the search for victims.
“My solidarity with Turkey and Syria in the face of one of the biggest earthquakes in their history,” declared the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, via his official Twitter account. “Following the request of the European Civil Protection Mechanism,” he continued, the Ministry of the Interior, through Civil Protection, has activated the Military Emergency Unit, troops from the Community of Madrid and urgent air transport “for support in search tasks.” The earthquakes, measuring at least 7.6 magnitude on the open Richter scale, occurred in the early hours of Sunday to Monday and have so far killed at least 600 people, according to official Iraqi and Turkish data, although UN sources put the death toll at 1,400.
In the same vein, the Ministry of Interior reported that, in response to the request for urgent assistance launched by the European Civil Protection Mechanism for urban search and rescue, the Directorate General of Civil Protection and Emergencies has requested the urgent activation of the UME and the Immediate Response Team of the Community of Madrid, the two agencies that have these urban search and rescue capabilities in Spain, certified by the European Mechanism. Likewise, Interior continued, arrangements are being made to have air transport available as soon as possible to be able to deploy these units on the ground.
The Directorate General of Civil Protection and Emergencies held an emergency meeting yesterday with the Ministry of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security and the Vice-Ministry of Interior of the Community of Madrid to coordinate the immediate dispatch of search and rescue teams to Turkey. The meeting was also attended by representatives of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) and the UME. The Community of Madrid yesterday mobilized a group of 35 firefighters and two Spanish Air Force planes flew to Turkey with the first aid teams sent by Spain to the area affected by the earthquakes.
For its part, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its “condolences for the victims of the earthquakes that occurred early this morning in Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq”. The Spanish Embassies in the affected areas, it explained, “are following the situation and verifying the records of travelers, without at this hour having received any calls from Spanish citizens to their emergency numbers.” “Spain has immediately mobilized troops and drones of the Military Emergency Unit, which are going to move to Malatya airport, where the Turkish authorities have installed the international aid center,” Foreign Ministry continued. In addition, “Spain is preparing additional aid that the affected countries and their populations may require”, it added.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defense reported that the Spanish contingent deployed in Turkey was not affected by the earthquake. “Tranquility for the families of our contingent in Adana (Turkey). They are well, fulfilling, as always, their mission,” said the Ministry of Defense, which also conveyed its solidarity to the people of Turkey and Syria “in these terrible moments”. Spain has 150 military personnel in the Turkish town of Adana, at the Incirlik air base, with a Patriot anti-missile battery that protects Turkish soil from possible missiles from Syria.
For his part, the leader of the Popular Party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, expressed his solidarity for “the consequences of the earthquake suffered in Turkey and Syria”. Likewise, the Turkish Embassy in Madrid published a link with the bank accounts for donations in support of the population affected by the earthquake.
