Turkey-Syria Earthquake: USA Sending $85 Million Aid

Those affected by the deadly earthquake in Turkey and Syria will receive $85 million in humanitarian aid from the United States.

On Thursday, the US Agency for International Development issued a press statement, "This new funding enables USAID's humanitarian partners to provide badly needed relief to millions of people in Turkey and Syria."

US Sends Humanitarian Aid to Turkey, Syria

The relief includes food and housing for refugees and the displaced, as well as winter goods to help people survive the brutal cold, trauma support, clean drinking water, and assistance with sanitation. Per CNN, USAID has dispatched a disaster relief response team consisting of 200 individuals and 12 dogs operating out of Adiyaman, Adana, and Ankara.

According to officials, the death toll from the earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria on Monday has risen to at least 21,051. Vice President Fuat Oktay announced Thursday that the death toll in Turkey has grown to at least 17,674, and the number of injured has reached 72,879 individuals.

At least 3,377 individuals were killed in Syria, including 2,030 in rebel-held regions in the northwest, as reported by the White Helmets civil defense group, and 1,347 in government-controlled areas, as reported by Syrian official media.

The number of injured Syrians in all impacted areas grew to 5,245, including 2,295 in the government-controlled territory and 2,950 in rebel-held territory. The earthquakes wounded at least 78,124 people in Syria and Turkey, according to the Turkish government, the White Helmets, and Syrian official media.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken talked with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu via telephone earlier on Thursday to discuss the NATO ally's requirements, per NDTV.

As he detailed the conversation, State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters, "We are proud to join the global efforts to help Turkey just as Turkey has so often contributed its humanitarian rescue experts to so many other countries in the past."

UN Calls For Increased Efforts to Help Turkey, Syria

Officials report that the United States has already dispatched rescue teams to Turkey and donated concrete breakers, generators, water purification equipment, and helicopters. As a result of extensive damage to roads and bridges, the US military has dispatched Black Hawk and Chinook helicopters to transport supplies, according to the report.

As a result of Washington's demand for responsibility for atrocities committed during the terrible civil war, the United States refuses to negotiate with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and channels aid to Syria through local allies.

First relief convoy to reach rebel-held northwestern Syria since the earthquake arrived through the solely accessible border gate on the Turkish side, Bab al-Hawa, on Thursday morning.

To protect the sovereignty of the Damascus government, Russia, Assad's most important foreign ally, has used its veto power in the United Nations Security Council to halt further crossings and approve Bab al-Hawa for just six months at a time.

On Thursday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that UN assistance director Martin Griffiths would visit Gaziantep in Turkey and Aleppo and Damascus in Syria this weekend to examine needs and determine how the United Nations can best increase help. Additionally, Guterres called for increased access to aid in opposition-controlled northwest Syria, as per Reuters via MSN.