Tokyo: Japan will deliver $16 million of grant assistance to earthquake-damaged Turkey and Syria, with the amount of aid totaling $27 million, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said on Friday.
“Given the earthquake in Turkey and Syria: Japan, which has experienced major natural disasters, including the Great East Japan Earthquake, has been sending aid since immediately after the earthquake, considering it necessary to provide maximum assistance. We decided to send $16 million of grant assistance to the victims in both countries. Today, [at a government meeting] a decision was made on its specific content,” Matsuno said at a press conference in Tokyo.
The official also said that an additional $4 million aid package would be sent to Turkey and Syria through Japanese non-governmental organizations and that the amount of assistance to both countries would reach $27 million.
Powerful earthquakes hit parts of Syria and Turkey on February 6, toppling thousands of homes. The aftershocks that followed were felt by people in 10 Turkish provinces and neighboring countries. The death toll from the earthquakes in Turkey has exceeded 43,000. The Syrian Health Ministry said that the final death toll from the earthquake in the government-controlled part of the country had reached 1,410 people, however the United Nations’ estimates put the total number of deaths in Syria at 8,500.
