Tokyo, February 12 – The Government of Japan today announced the dispatch of a new relief and medical assistance team to Turkey to support efforts on the ground following the devastating earthquakes that shook the country.
The medical team specializing in natural disasters traveled to Turkey on Sunday, joining another Japanese contingent that has already visited the country during the week, the Japanese Foreign Ministry announced today in a statement.
Japan “will continue to assess the damage on the ground and consider further assistance if necessary,” the statement added.
The Japanese rescue group already deployed in Turkey consisted of 18 members of the Japanese Disaster Relief Team, dependent on the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), an advance team that was to be joined by an international corps firefighters and coastguards. , up to 75 people, according to details gathered by local media.
The death toll from last Monday’s earthquakes rose to more than 24,600 on Sunday in Turkey, while more than 80,000 were injured, according to Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay.
The two earthquakes that struck a large area of southeastern Turkey on Monday, one measuring 7.7 and the other 7.6 magnitude, are the most devastating since 1939, after the death toll far exceeded that of the 1999 earthquakes near Istanbul, where some 18,000 people died.
Large numbers of rescue, health and military personnel continue to work in the affected areas – more than 150,000 soldiers in total – and although the chances of finding more survivors are dwindling nearly a week after the tremors , in recent days, people have still been found alive under the rubble.