UPDATE - Germany promises swift support for earthquake victims in Türkiye

ADDS NEWS OF DONATIONS FROM BIOTECHNOLOGY FIRM BIONTECH

BERLIN (AA) - Germany promised Thursday to provide swift support for Türkiye in the wake of this week’s devastating earthquakes that claimed at least 17,674 lives and left 72,879 injured.

Speaking to reporters in Brussels ahead of a summit of European Union leaders, Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed grief over the loss of lives and stressed that they will stand in solidarity with Türkiye.

“We will do everything to quickly organize our help all together, and we will also do everything for the reconstruction of destroyed areas,” Scholz said.

Meanwhile, biotechnology firm BioNTech said in a statement that it will donate €1 million ($1.07 million) in total to disaster relief organizations.

"We at BioNTech are saddened by the tragic loss of many lives as a result of the earthquakes that hit Türkiye and Syria," said Ugur Sahin, the company’s CEO and co-founder.

"We would like to contribute to the humanitarian aid in Türkiye and Syria by donating €500,000 to the nonprofit organization Aktionsbündnis Katastrophenhilfe (Action Alliance for Disaster Relief) as well as €500,000 to the refugee relief organization UNO-Flüchtlingshilfe – the partner of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Germany," he said.

He said they will continue to monitor the situation closely also with regards to their Turkish employees and offer individual help if needed.

Monday’s magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 earthquakes, centered in southern Türkiye’s Kahramanmaras province, affected more than 13 million people across 10 provinces, including Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye and Sanliurfa.