PARIS: Countries around the world have mobilised rapidly to send aid and rescue workers after a massive earthquake killed more than 5,100 people in Turkey and Syria.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday declared a state of emergency in 10 provinces devastated by two earthquakes that killed thousands of people and left a trail of destruction across a wide area of southern Turkey and neighbouring Syria.
A day after the quakes hit, rescuers working in harsh conditions were struggling to dig people out of the rubble of collapsed buildings in a "race against time".
As the scale of the disaster became ever more apparent, the death toll looked likely to rise considerably. One United Nations official said it was feared thousands of children may have been killed.
Offers of assistance came from countries across the world. Here are some of the chief pledges of support.
The European Union has mobilised 27 search and rescue and medical teams from 19 countries to help Turkey, together over 1,150 rescuers and 70 rescue dogs, EU crisis management commissioner Janez Lenarcic confirmed on Tuesday.
President Joe Biden said that US teams were "deploying quickly to begin to support Turkish search and rescue efforts". National security spokesman John Kirby said the United States was sending two search and rescue teams of 79 people each, while the Pentagon and USAID were coordinating with their Turkish counterparts.
Meanwhile, China said the first Chinese rescue teams started work in Turkey on Tuesday and that it was sending $5.9 million in emergency aid to the country, including rescue and medical teams, state media reported.
Deng Boqing, vice-director of the China International Development Cooperation Agency, told state broadcaster CCTV that Beijing would also coordinate "urgently needed disaster relief materials" for Syria but did not say how much would be sent.
British Foreign Minister James Cleverly said the UK was sending a team of 76 search and rescue specialists, equipment and rescue dogs. Britain was also sending an emergency medical team to assess the situation on the ground.
Russian President Vladimir Putin promised to send teams to both countries in telephone calls with Syria's Bashar al Assad and Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The defence ministry said 300 military personnel deployed in Syria were helping with the clear-up effort.
"Our teams are on the ground assessing the needs and providing assistance. We count on the international community to help the thousands of families hit by this disaster, many of whom were already in dire need of humanitarian aid in areas where access is a challenge," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.
Two of India's National Disaster Response Force teams comprising 100 personnel with dog squads and equipment were ready to be flown to the affected area, the foreign ministry said. Doctors and paramedics with medicines were also being readied. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was "anguished" and "deeply pained" by the deaths in Turkey and Syria.
Germany -- home to about three million people of Turkish origin -- will "mobilise all the assistance we can activate", Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that his war-torn country was "ready to provide the necessary assistance to overcome the consequences of the disaster."
Kyriakos Mitsotakis, prime minister of Turkey's historic rival Greece, whose relations with Ankara have suffered from a spate of border and cultural disputes, pledged to make "every force available" to aid its neighbour.
Qatar said it would send 120 rescue workers to Turkey, alongside "a field hospital, relief aid, tents and winter supplies".
The United Arab Emirates pledged assistance worth around $13.6 million to Syria, including search and rescue teams, urgent relief supplies and emergency aid. Official news agency WAM said the UAE had already dispatched a first plane to southern Turkey, where it is planning to establish a field hospital.
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