German ministers visit Türkiye's quake-hit region and pledge support in aid and reconstruction efforts

Two top German ministers have visited the quake-hit Turkish-Syrian border region and pledged their enduring support in aid and reconstruction efforts, only one day after two new earthquakes rocked the region.

"Our sympathy is not exhausted in words and it will not diminish when the catastrophe and its consequences are replaced by other headlines in the news," Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock promised on Tuesday during a joint visit with Interior Minister Nancy Faeser to south-eastern Türkiye.

Faeser assured the region of Germany's "deeply felt solidarity" in the face of the tens of thousands of victims.

"The survivors, who have lost everything, need winter-proof shelters quickly," she said before departing for the visit.

Germany was quick to send considerable amounts of aid to the region. The EU country has a special relationship with Türkiye, as it is home to the largest community in the Turkish diaspora.

The German army has delivered more than 340 tons of aid to Türkiye on 20 flights. On Tuesday, its air force is set to transport 13 more tons of supplies to Türkiye. Included are 100 tents, 400 camp beds and more than 1,000 sleeping bags.

On February 6, two strong quakes hit south-eastern Türkiye and northern Syria. More than 47,000 have died in the disaster so far, with more than 41,000 in Türkiye alone.

One day before the ministers' visit, two more quakes occurred, three minutes apart, measuring 6.4 and 5.8 in magnitude, according to AFAD, Türkiye's disaster management agency. Three people are reported to have died, with hundreds more being injured as the quakes hit the already disaster-struck region.

Baerbock and Faeser plan to visit the city of Gaziantep, where they hope to meet aid workers and non-governmental organizations working in Türkiye and Syria.

In the badly hit region of Kahramanmaraş, further to the north-west, the ministers are set to talk to earthquake victims and volunteers in a tent city.