Cairo: Forty-five Saudis have been evacuated from areas hit by a powerful earthquake in Turkey and brought back home in groups, a Saudi diplomat has said, as the kingdom continued to airlift humanitarian aid for victims of the disaster.
Monday’s quake has left thousands dead in Turkey and neighbouring Syria, and caused massive-scale devastation prompting massive-scale international aid.
“Since the quake disaster occurred, the Saudi embassy in Ankara has formed a team who headed to [Turkish city of] Adana, which is near the quake area,” Mohammad Al Harbi, the charge d’affaires at the Saudi embassy in Turkey, said.
He added that the team had communicated with the Saudi citizens there via social media and they were fully evacuated.
“They were transported to the kingdom. They are in good condition and no one of them was injured by the quake,” Al Harbi told Saudi television Al Ekhbariya.
In the aftermath of the quake, Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz and Crown Prince Mohammad ordered a public donation campaign and an airlift for relief of the victims.
Around SR183 million has been collected in donations through the campaign since Wednesday via the Sahem e-platform, overseen by the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSRelief).
Meanwhile, a third Saudi plane, carrying relief supplies, left Friday the King Khalid airport in Riyadh heading for Turkey as part of the Saudi airlift, Okaz newspaper reported.
The plane carried around 104 tons of humanitarian aid including food and medical supplies as well as tents, blankets and sleeping bags.
Al Ekhbariya Friday showed a Saudi team getting ready to leave for Turkey to join hectic search and rescue efforts in devastated areas.
On launching the aid campaign on Wednesday at the Riyadh-based centre, KSRelief Supervisor-General Abdullah Al Rabeah said Saudi humanitarian work has no “political, religious or military” agenda.
He added that the aid to be sent by the centre to war-torn Syria will target all quake-hit areas.
