Biden Says He Authorized Immediate US Response to Türkiye Earthquake

Emergency personnel search for victims at the site of a collapsed building after an earthquake in Diyarbakir, southeast of Türkiye, 06 February 2023. (EPA)
Emergency personnel search for victims at the site of a collapsed building after an earthquake in Diyarbakir, southeast of Türkiye, 06 February 2023. (EPA)
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Biden Says He Authorized Immediate US Response to Türkiye Earthquake

Emergency personnel search for victims at the site of a collapsed building after an earthquake in Diyarbakir, southeast of Türkiye, 06 February 2023. (EPA)
Emergency personnel search for victims at the site of a collapsed building after an earthquake in Diyarbakir, southeast of Türkiye, 06 February 2023. (EPA)

US President Joe Biden on Monday said his administration has been working closely with Türkiye, authorizing an immediate Washington response to the devastating earthquake there.

The earthquake killed more than 2,200 people and injured thousands more in Türkiye and northwest Syria, flattening apartment blocks and heaping more destruction on Syrian cities already devastated by years of war.

"Our teams are deploying quickly to begin to support Turkish search and rescue efforts and address the needs of those injured and displaced by the earthquake," Biden said in a statement released by the White House.



One Dead, 31 Wounded in Russian Strike on Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia

A view shows debris on a road near buildings damaged by Russian military strikes, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine January 21, 2025. (Reuters)
A view shows debris on a road near buildings damaged by Russian military strikes, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine January 21, 2025. (Reuters)
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One Dead, 31 Wounded in Russian Strike on Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia

A view shows debris on a road near buildings damaged by Russian military strikes, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine January 21, 2025. (Reuters)
A view shows debris on a road near buildings damaged by Russian military strikes, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine January 21, 2025. (Reuters)

Russia unleashed a drone and missile strike on the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia overnight, killing one, wounding 31 others and leaving tens of thousands without power or heat, officials said on Thursday.
The attack destroyed an energy facility and cut power to more than 20,000 residents and heat to some 17,000, according to Governor Ivan Fedorov, Reuters said.
He said Russian forces struck the city with drones first, then with ballistic missiles during an air-raid alert lasting more than six hours.
Among the wounded was a two-month-old infant as well as rescuers who had responded to the first wave of the attack, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote on social media.
Early on Thursday, police and rescue workers combed through the rubble of a decimated apartment building and helped evacuate elderly residents. One building was destroyed and another 30 were damaged, Fedorov said.
A resident who was searching the gutted remains of his apartment described the attack.
"I flew off the couch to get dressed, and, running to the cabinet, I was covered in debris, after which I climbed out and heard my wife screaming," Serhiy, 35, said.
Zaporizhzhia, a strategic industrial city near front-line fighting, has come under frequent attack by Russian forces.
Kyiv's air force said Russia had fired four ballistic missiles at the city, part of a mass overnight attack on Ukraine that also included 92 drones.
Air defenses shot down 57 and another 27 were "locationaly lost", it added.
Russia has carried out regular air strikes on Ukrainian towns and cities behind the front line of its three-year-old invasion, targeting the country's weakened energy grid in particular.
On Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said Moscow's forces had attacked Ukraine's energy system 1,200 times since 2022.
New US President Donald Trump is pushing for an end to the conflict and Russian President Vladimir Putin is concerned about its impact on Russia's economy but Ukraine says Moscow's insistence on retaining conquered territory is a non-starter.