Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 7 February 2023 – Following the largest ever earthquake to hit Turkiye that brought about a human tragedy in both Turkiye and Syria, Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) President and Group Chairman, H.E. Dr. Muhammad Al Jasser, has expressed heartfelt condolences, while offering full support to provide relief and recovery, as well as support in building resilience and reconstruction.

President Al Jasser’s message reads: “The heart wrenching earthquakes in Turkiye and Syria are indeed unprecedented human tragedies. At IsDB Group, we offer heartfelt condolences to the people of both these countries and pray to Allah to have mercy on them. We stand ready in these arduous times to help with the relief efforts and to be part of the reconstruction initiatives, while continuing our utmost to contribute towards resilient coping mechanisms during such human tragedies.”

The very early morning 7.8 killer quake and a subsequent second 7.5 quake on 6^th February 2023, have wreaked havoc and caused what is described as the tragedy of the century considering the unprecedented trail of death and destruction that they have left in the geographic expanse that they struck. At least 10 Turkish provinces, as well as northern Syria were struck by the destructive quakes that were also felt in several other countries. Thousands of deaths and injuries have so far been reported in both Turkiye and Syria and the numbers are expected to rise as the critical rescue window gets narrower.

Turkiye is a founding member of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) since 1975. As a major development partner of the Government of the Republic of Turkiye, the IsDB Group has, in the past 48 years, provided more than US$ 12.1 billion of development financing to Turkiye in the form of 544 development projects in various sectors including Health, Renewable Energy, Resilient and Environment-Friendly Infrastructure, Education, and Green High-Speed Transport.

In Syria, the first IsDB development operation dates back to January 1978. Since then, the Bank's development involvement in Syria stands at US$ 592.8 million focusing on Energy, Agriculture and Industry & Mining.