NATO is sending Türkiye some 1,000 containers that will offer temporary housing for at least 4,000 people in the country’s southeast region devastated by earthquakes two weeks ago.
A first merchant vessel carrying 600 containers departed the Italian port of Taranto Sunday evening, the military alliance said in a statement.
The containers are expected to arrive in the Turkish coastal city of Iskenderun, in Hatay province, next week, according to the statement.
The establishment of the camp is expected to start once the equipment is off-loaded and delivered to the site.
In a show of solidarity, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg met with Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara on Feb. 16 and visited the crisis region where he promised further support.
Some 225,000 homes were destroyed or severely damaged in the quakes that hit the region on Feb. 6, according to government estimates.
The number killed in Türkiye by the disaster rose to 41,020 late on Sunday, Anadolu Agency (AA) reported, quoting the country's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD).
The new figure pushed the total death toll to 47,000, including the 5,900 reported in Syria. The Syrian figures are, however, not being updated as frequently as the Turkish.
NATO is currently also coordinating an airlift to facilitate the transport of tents from Pakistan to Türkiye, according to the alliance.
Stoltenberg had said on Thursday that "tens of thousands of tents" would be sent to the NATO member state in the coming days and weeks with existing airlift capacities.
The Tuesday following the tremors, the Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Center conveyed Türkiye’s requests to all NATO allies, enabling thousands of relief aid and search and rescue teams, including firefighters and medical experts, to be deployed to the disaster zone.
Further support and rehabilitation for the region will also be the focus of an international donor conference Sweden, which awaits Turkish ratification for an impending NATO membership, is set to host next month, Stoltenberg had also noted.
