Tag: Voice of America

Death Toll In Turkey-Syria Quake Surpasses 41,000

Death Toll In Turkey-Syria Quake Surpasses 41,000

By LokMarg

The death toll from the earthquakes in Turkey and northwestern Syria has gone past 41,000 as rescue efforts continue, Voice of America (VOA) reported.

On Thursday, two women were pulled from the debris in Turkey’s southern city of Kahramanmaras, and a mother and two children were rescued in Antakya nine days after the earthquake. The rescue in Antakya came 228 hours after the earthquake, VOA reported citing the state-owned Anadolu news agency reported.
Millions of people who survived the quake need humanitarian aid, authorities say, with many survivors left homeless in near-freezing winter temperatures. Rescues are now few and far between.

Indian Army is supporting Turkey and Syria during a hard time. Recently, the Indian army team deployed as part of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) delivered relief material to Aleppo, Syria.

The material included rations and medicine from the government of India as well as contributions from the international community.

“#IndianArmy team deployed in @UNDOF delivers relief material to Aleppo, #Syria. This included rations & medicines from Government of #India as well as contributions from the international community,” Additional Directorate General of Public Information (ADG PI), Indian Army tweeted on Thursday.

Under ‘Operation Dost’, Union Health Ministry provided life-saving humanitarian medical Assistance to quake-hit Turkey and Syria.

Taking to Twitter, Minister of Health and Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya said, “India is helping Syria and Turkey with the concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. @MoHFW_India provided life-saving emergency medicines, protective items, medical equipment, critical care drugs, etc as part of India’s efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to Turkey and Syria.”

On February 6, a devastating earthquake of magnitude 7.8 ravaged Turkey and Syria.

According to a statement issued earlier by the Union Health Ministry, emergency relief material comprising life-saving medicines, protective items, and critical care equipment valued at over Rs 7 crore was arranged and promptly dispatched to Turkey and Syria.

Three truckloads of relief materials, comprising life-saving emergency medicines and protective items, were arranged at the Hindon airbase.

The consignment consisted of 5,945-ton emergency relief material, including 27 life-saving medicines, two kinds of protective items, and three categories of critical care pieces of equipment, valued at approximately Rs 2 crore.

On February 10, more relief materials were mobilised for both Turkey and Syria. The consignment for Syria consisted of 72 critical care drugs, consumables, and protective items of 7.3 tons, valued at Rs 1.4 crore, the statement from the Union Health ministry read. (ANI)

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Anti-Govt Protests In Iran

19 Killed In Anti-Govt Protests In Iran

By LokMarg

19 people were killed in Iran on Friday in one of the deadliest clashes between the police and protestors since the anti-government demonstrations started in the country over the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman called Mahsa Amini, who died in police custody after her arrest for allegedly failing to comply with Iran’s strict rules on women’s dress by wearing an “improper hijab”.

Iranian state news agency IRNA quoted Sistan and Balochistan provincial governor Hossein Modarres Khiabani as saying 19 people were killed and 20 wounded in the confrontation, including the police.
Iranian protesters and police had a violent confrontation in southeastern Iran. The confrontation happened as worshippers from Iran’s Sunni minority left Friday prayers at the Makki Grand Mosque in Zahedan, capital of Sistan and Balochistan province, reported Voice of America (VOA).

Footage shows men apparently bleeding from wounds being carried by others and placed on the ground as onlookers try to render first aid.

One video filmed from inside the mosque shows worshippers walking to the exits and then running as apparent gunfire is heard outside.

Other clips apparently from surrounding streets show a man running and throwing a stone, a police vehicle on fire, and people watching as more gunfire is heard in the distance reported VOA.

Dubai-based Iranian dissident Habibollah Sarbazi, who serves as secretary-general of the Balochistan National Solidarity Party, told VOA Persian that some worshippers joined an anti-government protest at a nearby police station and threw stones. Police responded by opening fire.

Sarbazi, whose group is one of several fighting for the rights of Iran’s ethnic Baloch minority, said he learned about the confrontation from what he called reliable sources inside Iran.

He said those sources told him the protesters were angered in part by allegations earlier this month that a police official at the station had sexually assaulted a teenage girl, reported VOA.

Another semiofficial news agency, Tasnim, said one of those killed was the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps intelligence commander of Sistan and Balochistan province, Seyyed Ali Mousavi.

Iranian state media described the protesters as terrorists and separatists and accused them of firing weapons at police.

The Iranian opposition-led Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA) told VOA that its sources inside Iran estimated that at least 40 protesters were killed and at least 20 security personnel were wounded.

In the past two weeks, Iranian authorities and rights activists have reported the killings of dozens of people including some security personnel as the government cracks down violently on mostly peaceful nationwide protests, reported VOA.

Initial public expressions of anger at Amini’s death and Iran’s decades-old mandatory public headscarf policy for women quickly evolved into Iranian protesters calling for more freedoms and the death of Iran’s Islamist rulers.

In recent years, Sistan and Balochistan provinces have seen occasional confrontations between Iranian security forces and armed groups including anti-government Baloch rebels and gangs engaged in smuggling across Iran’s border neighboring Pakistan and Afghanistan. (ANI)

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