Burundi sends ten disaster management specialists to Turkey

Burundi sends rescue team to Turkey

Rescue teams search through the rubble of collapsed buildings in Turkey after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the country over the past week. Burundi on Sunday deployed ten disaster management specialists to Turkey in an effort to help in rescue missions. PHOTO | OZAN KOSE | AFP

What you need to know:

  • The team will help rescue lives in a period of at least one week.
  • The mission is being financed by the Burundian Government through the Disaster Prevention and Management Fund.

The Burundian government on Sunday announced that it had deployed ten officers specialised in disaster management to Turkey as part of the efforts to rescue lives after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Turkey and Syria. 

“Taking into account the quality of the ties of friendship and cooperation with Turkey, and the deadly earthquake that struck it, Burundi is sending a specialised natural disaster intervention team in solidarity with the brotherly people of Turkey,” Burundi’s Foreign Affairs Minister Albert Shingiro tweeted. 

In a letter from the Secretary-General of Burundi Government Prosper Ntahorwamiye, Gitega designated the team that will help in rescue missions in Turkey for a period of at least one week.

Funding the rescue mission

“Financing of the mission is provided by the Government of Burundi from the Disaster Prevention and Management Fund which is under the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Public Security,” the letter read.

This comes a week after the deadly earthquake that hit Turkey and its neighboring Syria, and which has killed nearly 40,000 people.