After earthquakes hit Turkiye: Envoy, Atanga Nji, hands Biya’s over 600 MFCFA aid.

Biya’s envoy, Minister Atanga Nji, handed the money Wednesday April 12. This was during an audience with Turkiye Minister of Interior, Süleyman Soylu, in the country’s capital, Ankara.

Besides handing over the package from President Paul Biya, Atanga Nji and his Turkish counterpart spent over an hour discussing issues relating to the humanitarian situation following the earthquakes.

The MINAT boss also extended President Biya’s message of condolence and compassion to the people of Turkiye battling to recover from the shock of the natural disaster.

The member of government was accompanied by Cameroon’s Ambassador to Turkiye, His Excellency Victor Tchatchouwo.

Emerging from the audience after handing the President’s package, Minister Atanga Nji told reporters that: “Our Head of State is very considerate and he knows what particular moment to do anything. The period of Ramadan for the Muslims is a very important period where people pray. It is also a moment of solidarity”.

The gesture of the Head of State, he said, is considered more powerful given that his hand of fellowship to the people of Turkiye comes at a time when prayers are ongoing in line with the teachings of Islam. A season such as this, Atanga Nji said, calls for solidarity, a thing, which, he reiterated, President Biya masters so well.

“President Paul Biya has always reacted promptly when brotherly countries are in difficulties,” he enthused, adding that: "We came to share with the people; as such this is why I said President Biya knows what he does and whatever he does, he does it well. This is the significance of my presence here during this period”.

Turkish Interior Minister on earthquakes

Turkish Interior Minister, Süleyman Soylu, during the meeting recounted to his counterpart the unfortunate incident, which claimed over 50,000 lives.

He noted that at least 13 million persons, among them women and children, are affected. The earthquakes, the Turkish minister also said, caused huge material damage to the country. 

He thanked Cameroon for standing by Turkiye during this difficult moment and promised to deliver President Paul Biya’s message to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

About the earthquakes 

On February 6, 2023 a devastating earthquake of magnitude 7.8 hit Southern Türkiye. It affected the provinces of Adıyaman, Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Kilis, Osmaniye, Gaziantep, Malatya, Şanlıurfa, Diyarbakır, Elazığ and Adana.

According to the country’s Minister of Interior, some 50,399 people lost their lives in the earthquake. 

Latest official figures reveal that the number of injured victims stands at 107,204. It is also reported that some 1,200 people are yet to be identified 60 days after the disaster. 

The earthquakes is said to have affected four million school children, including 350,000 refugee children. 254,000 students who left the earthquake-affected provinces continue their education in 71 other provinces. Another 11,064 students who had previously moved from the earthquake zone to other provinces have returned to the affected area. 

Approximately 2.4 million people are living in temporary shelters in the earthquake zone, of which around 1.6 million are in scattered temporary settlements. 

The most severely affected regions are Hatay, Adıyaman, Kahramanmaraş and Malatya, where 92% of the population is living in temporary settlements. Hatay has the highest number of people living in both formal and informal temporary shelters.

The United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA, announced that 14,400 births are expected in the earthquake zone next month and 130,000 women are pregnant.

Turkiye President announces reconstruction

The President of Turkiye has announced the construction of 6,750 houses and village houses in the earthquake area and 319,000 houses and 14,600 workplaces to be built within a year. The Turkish Government has distributed and installed 525,000 tents and 36,000 containers in the affected areas.

Similar gestures carried out

Biya’s magnanimity is not new. In March 2021, he dispatched a ministerial delegation, led by the Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Defense, Joseph Beti Assomo, to Equatorial Guinea with humanitarian support following a bomb blast that affected a town in the country. Biya also offered support to Haiti when an earthquake hit the country.