Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif on Friday announced that the federal government has allocated Rs10 billion to help Turkey’s earthquake relief efforts.

The premier said that Pakistan will never leave alone Turkey in these circumstances, urging the nation to pray for the victims of the earthquake in Friday prayers today.

“I believe that the people of Turkey and Syria will come out of this difficulty,” he said, adding that Pakistan assured Turkey of assistance on the very day the tragedy took place.

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“A committee has been formed to send funds to Turkey. 1,486 tonnes of relief goods are being sent to Turkey and Syria,” he added.

The premier said that the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) will purchase relief items — such as tents, clothes, blankets and dry food — from the fund and dispatch them to Turkiye.

“Destruction of such magnitude is seldom seen, where parents have lost their children and infants have become orphans […] there are dreadful visuals everywhere,” he noted.

However, the prime minister asserted that under the leadership of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the people of Turkiye would emerge out of the crisis. “And so will our brothers in Syria,” he said.

More than 21,000 people have died in Turkiye after an earthquake of magnitude 7.8 struck the region in the early hours of Monday morning. The hope of pulling out survivors from underneath the rubble diminishes as the days pass and freezing temperatures continue unabated.