EU countries to provide $426 mln for Türkiye’s quake-hit zone
ANKARA
European Union member countries have granted approval for the disbursement of 400 million euros (nearly $426 million) in disaster relief to Türkiye’s quake-hit region devastated by the twin earthquakes in early February.
The Council of the European Union announced in a written statement that it has agreed on amendments to the EU budget that would allow it to “provide a total of 454.8 million euros in disaster relief aid to Romania and Italy, to repair damage inflicted by natural disasters in 2022, and to Türkiye, in relation to the earthquakes in February 2023.”
Ankara is set to be the primary beneficiary of this aid package, with the EU pledging "400 million euros to provide assistance to Türkiye in the wake of the significant earthquakes that affected southern Türkiye cities of Kahramanmaras and Hatay in February 2023," the statement noted.
Romania and Italy will receive 33.9 million euros (approximately $36.15 million) and 20.9 million euros (approximately $22.29 million), respectively, to support their recovery efforts following severe droughts and floods.
The aid will be financed from the section of the EU budget allocated for emergency assistance. The financial assistance will be disbursed following the final approval from the European Parliament and the EU Council.
The World Bank allocated a substantial sum of $1 billion to aid the recovery efforts in earthquake-affected provinces, Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Minister Mehmet Özhaseki recently announced.
A substantial portion of the loan package amounting to $684.8 million has been allocated to his ministry. Özhaseki outlined the distribution of these funds, stating that "$296.5 million [of this] will be directed towards the ministry's housing projects in rural areas within the earthquake zone, while $388.3 million will be channeled into [ministry-owned] İlbank's infrastructure projects in the earthquake-affected area."
