Bangladesh will send another 10,000 tents to Turkey in addition to the 2,000 tents dispatched earlier to help the people made homeless by a massive earthquake, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said.
Momen spoke to his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu again on Wednesday to express condolences for the loss of life and offer support for people, the foreign ministry in Dhaka said in a statement on Friday.
Cavusoglu mentioned the condolence messages received from the president, the prime minister, the speaker of parliament and the foreign minister.
Thanking the Bangladesh government for sending a rescue and medical team of 60 people and much-needed tents, he said these were actually what they badly needed, according to bdnews24.com.
The earthquake death toll in Turkey and Syria topped 43,000 on Friday, as aid agencies step up efforts to help millions of people left homeless.
Momen said people in Bangladesh were overwhelmed by the scale of devastation. “This is a great shock to all of us in Bangladesh," he told his Turkish counterpart.
Cavusoglu said the situation after the earthquake in Turkey was “worse than what you’ve seen on TV”.
“There are people under the rubble that we couldn’t reach. We are doing our best to normalise life, to provide temporary shelter. Also, we are planning the reconstruction of the region affected by the earthquake,” the Turkish minister said.
Two more people were pulled alive from the rubble in Turkey on Friday, 11 days after the earthquake, Reuters reports.
Cavusoglu wished the Bangladeshi citizens wounded in the earthquake a quick recovery.
If Turkey needs help, Bangladesh can send construction workers, Momen said. “And whatever you need, let us know and we will try our best.”
Cavusoglu said Turkey would approach Bangladesh, a “brotherly country”, for anything it needs without hesitation.