India will be providing all possible assistance to Turkey, which was struck by a deadly earthquake on Monday, 6 February, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced.
Speaking at the India Energy Week 2023 event in Bengaluru, PM Modi said, "We are all looking at the destructive earthquake that hit Turkey. There are reports of the deaths of several people as well as damage. Damages are suspected even in countries near Turkey. The sympathies of the 140 crore people of India are with all earthquake-affected people."
He also pledged to extend the required assistance to help the people impacted by the 7.8 magnitude earthquake.
Following his speech, the Indian government announced that it would immediately dispatch Search & Rescue Teams of the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) and medical teams with relief materials to the earthquake-hit areas.
"Two teams of NDRF comprising 100 personnel with specially trained dog squads and necessary equipment are ready to be flown to the earthquake hit area for search & rescue operations," the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said in a press release.
The PMO also said that medical teams will be readied with trained doctors and paramedics to fly to Turkey with essential medicines on board.
"Relief material will be dispatched in coordination with the Government of Republic of Türkiye and Indian Embassy in Ankara and Consulate General office in Istanbul," they said.
This comes after a meeting between the PM's principal secretary PK Mishra and the Cabinet Secretary, representatives of the ministries of Home Affairs, National Disaster Management Authority, NDRF, Defence, External Affairs, Civil Aviation and Health & Family Welfare.
Earlier, External Affairs S Jaishankar had also tweeted to express his sympathies to the families of the deceased. "Deeply distressed by the loss of lives and damage in the earthquake in Turkiye," he had said.
Meanwhile, the death toll from the earthquake has increased to 1,300, and is expected to rise even further in both Turkey and Syria.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)