São Paulo – Brazil’s president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva offered his sympathy to Syria and Turkey over the earthquake that hit the two countries on Monday (6). “We’re very troubled by the news from Turkey and Syria, following a major earthquake. Brazil offers its sympathy to the peoples of the two countries, the families of the victims, and all those who lost their homes to this tragedy,” he wrote on a social media.
The Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (ABCC) also issued a statement in its social media regretting and offering sympathy to the families of the victims from the earthquake. “We wish recovery to the people injured and left homeless, and comfort to those who lost their relatives and homes,” the institution published.
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake knocked down multiple buildings in southeast Turkey and northern Syria. According to the international media, over 1,000 people were killed, with some 5,000 injured. The official news agency SANA said 326 died and another 1,042 were injured in Syria. In rebel-held areas, more than 380 people have been killed and over 1,000 injured. The magnitude 7.8 earthquake was then followed by a magnitude 7.7 earthquake. The tremors were felt in other countries like Lebanon, Greece, Israel and Chipre.
Syria has a large community of descendants in Brazil and a strong flow of travel and contact interchange with Brazil due to these immigration ties. Syria was one of the countries visited by sitting president Lula in the first year of his first term, in 2003. Last Friday (3), new ambassador from Syria in Brasília, Rania Al Haj Ali, delivered her credentials to work in the country. On the occasion, they talked about the importance of peace, the humanitarian situation in the region, and the Syrian community in Brazil, as reported by the presidential office.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
