UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th February, 2023) The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) estimates its cumulative initial response to the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria at 200 million Swiss francs ($217 million), IFRC Under-Secretary-General for Operations Coordination Xavier Castellanos told Sputnik.
"We came out with an emergency bill of 200 million Swiss francs: 120 million goes to Turkey, and 80 million to Syria," Castellanos said in an interview.
This amount is expected to cover a 12-month period of time, he noted.
The IFRC will need several months to determine the final amount of relief aid necessary to respond to the Turkey-Syria earthquake, according to Castellanos.
The two countries were rattled on Monday by a pair of major earthquakes and dozens of aftershocks that killed more than 10,000 people and collapsed thousands of homes.
