- Government has gathered supplies including tents, clothing, blankets, medicine and medical supplies to send to Turkey, Chief Executive John Lee says
- Lee says over 100 tonnes of supplies donated by civil society were delivered to Turkey on Monday evening
The Hong Kong rescue team has been praised for its efforts in Turkey. Photo: HandoutHong Kong’s leader has pledged to speed up the processing of relief funding for NGOs joining earthquake rescue efforts in Turkey, while revealing the government will send more than HK$30 million (US$3.8 million) worth of supplies for the mercy mission.
Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu on Tuesday said the government had gathered goods including tents, clothing, blankets, medicine and medical supplies to send to quake-hit areas in Turkey.
“The supplies will be delivered within a day after Turkish authorities settle on shipping arrangements,” Lee told a press briefing ahead of his weekly Executive Council meeting.
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The chief executive said more than 100 tonnes of supplies donated by civil society were delivered to Turkey on Monday evening, while the government’s disaster relief fund would process humanitarian groups’ grant applications immediately, seeking to approve them as soon as possible.
A source on Sunday said the government had sent supplies from its Covid-19 quarantine centres, including blankets, to Turkey.
Without confirming whether stores from isolation centres had formed part of the donations, a spokesman for the government said it had been gathering supplies after discussions with the Turkish consulate in Hong Kong and relief organisations on Monday.
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The death toll from the 7.8-magnitude quake that devastated parts of southeastern Turkey and neighbouring Syria last Monday has passed 36,000, with tens of thousands injured and millions more displaced in harsh, wintry conditions.
A 59-strong rescue team from Hong Kong has pulled four survivors from the rubble in Hatay, Turkey’s southernmost province, since arriving last Friday.
Lee thanked the rescuers for their efforts to save lives amid the danger of aftershocks and chilly conditions and expressed pride in their work.
“As chief executive and a former secretary for security, I feel proud of the rescue team, as do our citizens. We will continue to support the rescue team, cheering them on and wishing them all the best, as well as to stay safe,” he said.
On Monday afternoon local time, rescuers from the city and Turkey pulled a woman from debris in Antakya, one of the worst hit cities in the quake. The team had earlier rescued two men and a woman from a collapsed building on Saturday.
Team commander Yiu Men-yeung of Hong Kong’s Fire Services Department said the rescuers had pulled the three survivors from rubble that was six metres (20 feet) deep on Saturday.
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Yiu said during an online briefing on Sunday that a series of aftershocks and large-scale damage in Hatay had made their work challenging.
“The transport network is badly damaged, and the supply of petrol is limited,” he said. “The signal is unstable, and most buildings in the area have either collapsed or tilted. All these made our rescue work very challenging.”
The Hong Kong unit comprises 49 members of the Fire Services Department’s urban search and rescue team, two doctors and two nurses from the Department of Health and six personnel from the Security Bureau and the Immigration Department.
Peyami Kalyoncu, Turkey’s consul general in Hong Kong, on Saturday said the country would need 1 million tents from around the world for the next stage of the relief effort.
The Turkish consulate said it had been inundated with winter clothing and that it was now only looking for donations of cold-weather sleeping bags, blankets, gas heaters and winter tents.
How to help:
Turkish Consulate General Hong Kong
Unicef Hong Kong
Oxfam
Save the Children
World Vision Hong Kong
Red Cross
MSF (Doctors Without Borders)