Taliban administration to send earthquake aid to Turkey

8/2/2023 14:24

        Afghanistan's Taliban administration will send around $165,000 in aid to Turkey and Syria to help the response to a devastating magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck this week.
        
        Afghanistan is in the grips of a severe economic and humanitarian crisis and is itself the location of one of the United Nation's largest humanitarian aid programs. The Taliban took over in 2021 as foreign forces withdrew, sparking enforcement of sanctions on its banking sector, and no capital has formally recognised its government.
        
        The death toll from the huge tremor in southern Turkey and Syria had jumped to more than 7,800 people on Tuesday as rescuers worked against time in harsh winter conditions to dig survivors out of the rubble of collapsed buildings. Tens of thousands more were injured and many people were left without homes in freezing temperatures.