The welfare of Zimbabweans based in Turkey was the talk of the day following the earthquake that has killed a combined more than 3,000 to date.

The violent tremor hit Turkey and Syria on Monday being the region’s strongest earthquake in nearly a century.

In Turkey, the death toll stood at 1,762, Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said, and 12,068 people were recorded as injured, Reuters reported.

Countries around the world mobilised rapidly to send aid and rescue workers on Monday after a massive earthquake killed more than 2,600 people in Turkey and Syria.

Offers of assistance came from countries across the world. Here are some of the chief pledges of support.

The European Union has mobilised 10 search and rescue teams for Turkey after the stricken country requested EU assistance, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and EU crisis management commissioner Janez Lenarcic said.

The EU’s Copernicus satellite system has been activated to provide emergency mapping services, it said adding the bloc was ready to support those affected in Syria too.

The UN General Assembly observed a minute of silence in tribute to the victims.

“Our teams are on the ground assessing the needs and providing assistance. We count on the international community to help the thousands of families hit by this disaster, many of whom were already in dire need of humanitarian aid in areas where access is a challenge,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.

Two of India’s National Disaster Response Force teams comprising 100 personnel with dog squads and equipment were ready to be flown to the affected area, the foreign ministry said. Doctors and paramedics with medicines were also being readied.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was “anguished” and “deeply pained” by the deaths in Turkey — with whom India has frosty relations — and Syria.

The United States has deployed a team of disaster response specialists after an earthquake killed more than 2,700 people in Turkey and north-west Syria, USAid administrator Samantha Power said.

The Disaster Assistance Response Team “will work in close coordination with Turkish authorities on the frontlines, as well as with our partners on the ground and agencies across the US government,” Power said in a statement.

USAid is also in the process of deploying two urban search and rescue teams from Virginia and California, the statement said. – ARE YOU AFFECTED? CONTACT ZIMEYE NOW