AA / New York / Hakan Turkmen
US President Joe Biden said the earthquake that hit southern Türkiye and northern Syria was “one of the region’s worst quakes in over a century”.
In a speech in Wisconsin on Wednesday, Biden took the opportunity to discuss the devastating earthquake.
“The thoughts and prayers of the American people are with those affected by the earthquake” in Türkiye and Syria. This is one of the worst earthquakes in the region for more than 100 years,” he added.
Biden said he spoke with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right after the earthquake, and expressed Washington’s full support for Ankara.
“We are unwavering in our commitment to support the people of Türkiye and Syria in these difficult times,” he said.
At dawn on Monday, a magnitude 7.7 earthquake hit southern Türkiye and northern Syria, followed by another a few hours later with a magnitude of 7.6 and hundreds of aftershocks violence, which caused enormous loss of life and property in both countries.
On Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared a state of emergency for a period of 3 months in 10 earthquake-affected states, namely Adana, Adıyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kahramanmaras, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye and Sanliurfa.
*Translated from Arabic by Wejden Jlassi
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