The Albanian search and rescue team is working among the rubble of the Malatya earthquake disaster in Turkey. Prime Minister Edi Rama has posted photographs from the search and rescue effort on his Facebook page, showing Albanian military working in the debris. The Albanian solidarity mission, which included 53 medical workers, search and rescue specialists, and seven vehicles, had been launched the day before to assist the Turkish people in their time of need.
After a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Turkey and Syria on Monday, more than 5,400 people were dead and tens of thousands were injured.
Over 4,700 buildings have been damaged in Turkey’s ten most impacted cities, according to the disaster and emergency management authorities, and approximately 8,000 people have been rescued from the rubble.
Aid organizations are especially concerned about northwest Syria, where more than 4 million people rely on humanitarian assistance.
As more than 100 aftershocks have shaken the region, freezing weather conditions threaten lives and complicate rescue efforts.
The earthquake on Monday was one of the strongest to hit the region in more than a century, with its epicenter 23 kilometers east of Nurdag in Turkey’s Gaziantep province, at a depth of 24.1 kilometers.