Bosnian authorities have reacted swiftly in expressing readiness to send search and rescue teams from various levels of government in an effort to help find the surviving casualties of the devastating earthquake that struck Turkiye on Monday morning.

The Sarajevo Canton Government has made available all the necessary capacities to the state Ministry of Security for the purpose of sending medical and rescue teams from the Canton to the areas affected by the devastating earthquakes.

The Sarajevo Canton is ready to send 40 to 50 members of the Mountain Rescue Service trained and certified for rescue from ruins. Five medical teams from the Institute for Emergency Medical Assistance with cardiomobiles, as well as five medical assistance teams from the General Hospital.

Some 80 rescuers of the Republika Srpska (RS) entity Mountain Rescue Service were also placed on standby for the decision of the BiH Security Ministry and the Embassy of Turkiye in BiH.

“We are monitoring the situation, we are in contact with Samir Agic from the Ministry, as well as our colleagues from the Federation (FBiH) entity Mountain Rescue Service. If we go, it will be through the Ministry of Security and the Turkish Embassy,” Nenad Ikonic, from the RS Mountain Rescue Service, told N1.

The BiH Red Cross Society launched an appeal for help to the vulnerable population of Syria and Turkiye as well.

In this regard, the humanitarian hotline number 17023 was activated, by calling it, people can donate 2 Bosnian marks (some €1), and a dedicated humanitarian bank account was also launched to collect other types of aid, that is, funds to help the population of these countries.

(Funds can be paid into the Red Cross account number 1340011130004680, bank name: ASA Banka d.d. Sarajevo, bank address: Fra Anđela Zvizdovića 1/A, 71000 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.)