THE government is working to evacuate 13 Malaysians still trapped in several regions affected by the earthquake in southern Turkey, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Mohamad Alamin said yesterday.

According to Mohamad, Wisma Putra was currently in discussions with the Malaysian Embassy in Ankara and the consulate-general in Istanbul on how to repatriate them.

He added that the Malaysians in question were all professionals, with no mention of tourists.

“Although communicating with them is a challenge because the telecommunications service in the country is down, they are all safe and healthy.

“We will provide updates on the situation there from time to time,” he said at a press conference at Kuala Lumpur International Airport last night.

He added that the Malaysian Consultative Council of Islamic Organisations (Mapim) was the first civil society group to send humanitarian aid to Turkey, including an 11-man delegation to assist in search and rescue (SAR) operations.

Mapim chief executive officer Ahmad Sani Abdul Alim Araby said the humanitarian mission was expected to arrive in Istanbul today, and would be in Turkey and Syria for 17 days.

He said Mapim had provided RM1 million in funds to buy essential items for people in the affected regions.

“We will use the existing donations because we had only launched the emergency aid fund yesterday,” he said.

The 7.8-magnitude quake struck as people slept on Monday morning, flattening thousands of structures, trapping an unknown number of people and potentially impacting millions.

Whole rows of buildings collapsed, leaving some of the heaviest devastation near the quake’s epicentre between the Turkish cities of Gaziantep and Kahramanmaras.

The Syrian health ministry reported damage across the provinces of Aleppo, Latakia, Hama and Tartus, where Russia is leasing a naval facility.

The latest toll showed 5,894 people killed in Turkey and at least 1,932 in Syria, for a combined total of 7,826 fatalities.

There are fears that the toll will rise inexorably, with WHO officials estimating up to 20,000 may have died. – Bernama, February 8, 2023.