Blinken then accompanied Cavusoglu in a helicopter to view the damage wrought by the disaster in Hatay province.
The new aid “will be moving soon. Sadly, it’s less about search and rescue but long-term recovery”, Blinken told reporters.
“This is going to be a long-term effort. It’s going to take a massive effort to rebuild but we’re committed to supporting that effort,” he said.
Washington has now contributed US$185 million in assistance to Türkiye and Syria, he added.
The trip had been planned before the earthquake, the worst natural disaster to hit Türkiye in its post-Ottoman history.
On Twitter, the White Helmets group said they had met Blinken in southern Türkiye discuss “the response to the earthquake in NW #Syria, the humanitarian situation, ways to support affected civilians, and mechanisms for achieving early recovery.
The group’s deputy director Farouk Habib told Blinken he was grateful for US support after the quake, while Blinken offered condolences and commended the rescuers’ “heroic efforts”, the group tweeted.
Blinken, also referred to their meeting on Twitter, adding: “Thank you for your heroic efforts to rescue Syrians after the earthquakes.
“The United States is proud to support you and other organizations providing life-saving aid in response to this tragedy.”
“WE STILL HAVE HOPE”
In the devastated southeastern city of Antakya, three bodies were retrieved from one building with a woman still thought to be inside, an official briefed on the recovery effort told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The smell of decaying bodies and a cloud of dust hung in the air at the recovery site just off Republic Avenue in the city’s northwest.
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