Brussels [Belgium], February 21: The defence alliance NATO is shipping some 1,000 containers to Turkey to set up temporary housing for at least 4,000 people following the devastating earthquakes that hit the Turkish-Syrian border region two weeks ago. A first merchant vessel carrying 600 containers left the Italian port of Taranto on Sunday evening, the military alliance said in a statement.
The containers are expected to arrive in the Turkish coastal city of Iskenderun, in Hatay province, next week, according to the statement.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg visited Ankara and the crisis region in southern Turkey on Thursday and promised further support.
Some 225,000 homes were destroyed or severely damaged in the quakes that hit the region on February 6, according to Turkish government estimates.
The number killed in Turkey by the disaster rose to 41,020 late on Sunday, the Anadolu news agency reported on the basis of information from the country's AFAD disaster authority.
The new figure pushed the total death toll to 47,000, including the 5,900 reported in Syria. The Syrian figures are, however, not being updated as frequently as the Turkish.
NATO is currently also coordinating an airlift to facilitate the transport of tents from Pakistan to Turkey, according to the alliance.
Stoltenberg had said on Thursday that "tens of thousands of tents" would be sent to the NATO member state in the coming days and weeks with existing airlift capacities.
Source: Qatar Tribune
