The first consignment of relief items for the earthquake victims of Turkey was sent by the Punjab government via a special plane on Saturday.
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif saw off the team carrying relief items at the Lahore Airport. Talking on the occasion, Shahbaz said that hundreds of lives had been lost and a large number of people had been injured in the recent earthquake in eastern Turkey.
Shahbaz said that Turkey had conveyed a message through its embassies all over the world that it did not need foreign assistance. However, the chief minister had contacted the Turkish President Abdullah Gull and Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and requested that Pakistan be considered a part of Turkey and not rest of the world, upon which they agreed to receive the assistance.
A team, led by Provincial Minister Abdul Ghafoor, left for Turkey with the first consignment of 135 tents, while another team lead by the Provincial Disaster Management Authority director general had already reached Turkey.
