Belgium, (Brussels Morning Newspaper) The European Commission announced plans to provide 1 billion euros in earthquake relief to Turkey to strengthen the country’s reconstruction efforts.
EC President Ursula von der Leyen pointed out at an aid conference on Monday that the earthquake in February killed more than 56,000 people in Turkey and Syria, according to Reuters reporting.
“Millions are now homeless and living in tents as the winter drags on,” she noted and stressed the importance of providing aid to survivors.
Von der Leyen pointed out that “homes and schools and hospitals must be rebuilt, with the highest standards of seismic safety… water and sanitation and other critical infrastructure must be repaired… public services and businesses need capital to restart.”
She added that the Commission plans to spend additional 108 million euros on humanitarian aid and recovery in Syria, pointing out that the program will be limited.
According to the UN Development Programme (UNDP), “the total financial burden of the earthquake disaster” for Turkey stands at roughly US$ 103.6 billion or approximately 9% of Turkey’s GDP forecast for this year.
Turkey announces plans to rebuild
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced plans to rebuild more than 300,000 homes one year after the earthquake and added “it is not possible for a single nation to tackle a crisis of this scale on its own,” stressing that Turkey will “never forget the solidarity that all our friends… have shown in these difficult days.”
The Commission reminded that it mobilized aid worth millions of euros in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake and sent roughly 1,500 rescuers to help look for survivors and provide medical assistance. It added that Turkey hosts millions of refugees from Syria.
According to EU officials, approximately 400 international actors took part in the conference, including countries, NGOs, and regional organizations, among others. Syrian and Russian authorities were not invited to the conference.
The EU has broad sanctions in place against Syria and pointed out that its earthquake recovery assistance would be limited to humanitarian aid and early recovery, stressing that it would not finance full-scale reconstruction in the country until President of Syria Bashar al-Assad and his adversaries establish a political dialogue.
