On February 6, two 7.8-magnitude earthquakes hit Turkey, causing heavy casualties and property losses in both Turkey and Syria.

  Deng Boqing, deputy director of the China International Development Cooperation Agency, said in an interview with the headquarter reporter today that the Chinese government immediately activated the emergency humanitarian assistance mechanism and decided to provide emergency assistance to Turkey and Syria.

The first batch will provide 40 million yuan of emergency assistance to Turkey, including sending heavy urban rescue teams, medical teams, and providing urgently needed disaster relief materials for Turkey.

Coordinate the provision of urgently needed disaster relief materials to Syria, and speed up the implementation of ongoing food aid projects.

  At the same time, all walks of life in China have extended a helping hand to Turkey and Syria.

The Red Cross Society of China has provided US$200,000 in aid to Turkey and Syria respectively.

Local Chinese and overseas Chinese are raising relief supplies such as tents and blankets.

It is understood that China's first social rescue force has gone to the disaster area to carry out rescue in the morning.

The Chinese government will continue to provide assistance to Turkey and Syria within its capacity according to the development of the disaster situation and actual needs.

  (CCTV reporter Wu Hao and Zhang Xin)