The picture has been shared by official Twitter account of Indian Army
Chandigarh: Amid gut-wrenching sights of devastation caused by massive earthquake in Turkey, a picture is winning hearts across social media platforms where a Turkish woman was seen kissing an Indian Army doctor.
The picture has been shared by official Twitter account of Indian Army. “#OperationDost We Care. #IndianArmy #Türkiye,” the caption of the post reads.
Since being shared, the tweet has amassed over 1 million views. Netizens are unanimously hailing India Army for its humanitarian efforts.
India has been proactively involved in relief and rescue operations in Turkey. Under the initiative ‘Operation Dost’, India has set up army field hospitals in Iskenderun and Hatay, which have started functioning. NDRF teams have also been working hand in hand with Turkey administration in relief operations.
Over 21,000 people have died as a result of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria. Officials report that 3,377 people died in Syria and 17,674 were killed in Turkey, bringing the confirmed death toll to 21,051. The government has added that nearly 3,000 buildings, including public hospitals, collapsed in seven cities.
Turkey-Syria quake toll crosses 23,800
Meanwhile, as search and rescue efforts continued for a sixth straight day on Saturday following the devastating earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria on February 6, the toll has reached at least 23,831, according to authorities.
In its latest update, Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said the overall death toll currently stood at 20,318, with 80,052 reported injuries, Anadolu News Agency reported.
In Syria, the total number of those killed stands at 3,513, CNN reported.
According to volunteer organisation Syria Civil Defense, also known as the White Helmets, 2,166 deaths were registered in rebel-held areas in the northwest of the country.
Meanwhile, the Syrian state media has said that 1,347 fatalities were reported in government-controlled parts of the war-torn nation.
The delivery of urgent supplies to quake-hit rebel-held areas in northern and northwestern Syria has been complicated by a long-running civil war between opposition groups and the Syrian government.
On Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan acknowledged that his government’s response to the massive disaster was not as fast as desired, reports Xinhua news agency.
“Too many buildings were damaged, unfortunately. We were not able to speed up our interventions as quickly as we had desired,” he told reporters in the quake-affected Adiyaman province.
But now the country has gathered “perhaps the world’s largest search and rescue teams” with more than 141,000 staff, including foreign emergency teams, he said.
The President has pledged to rebuild the quake-hit region within one year and provide one-year rental assistance for victims of the earthquake if they do not want to live in tents.
Meanwhile, over 81,000 people have been evacuated from the quake hit regions, according to AFAD.
Rescuers, relatives and local citizens burst into tears of joy after an eight-year-old boy was saved from the ruins of a building at Antakya, a district of Hatay province, 108 hours after the quake.
In the town of Iskenderun, a family of six was extracted from the rubble after 102 hours.
Raziye and Haci Murat Kilinc, two neighbours of the family, were rescued after 107 hours.
Many countries and global aid agencies have voiced support for the two countries, and some of them have sent rescue teams and relief supplies to quake-hit regions.
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