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2600 dead, thousands injured as deadly quake hits parts of turkiye, syria ANKARA
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agencieS
major earthquake of magnitude 7.9 struck central Turkey and northwest Syria on Monday, killing about 2600 people and injuring thousands others as buildings collapsed across the snowy region, and triggering a search for survivors trapped in the rubble. The quake, which hit in the early darkness of a winter morning, was also felt in Cyprus and lebanon. “I have never felt anything like it in the 40 years I’ve lived,” said erdem, a resident of the Turkish city of Gaziantep, near the quake’s epicenter, who declined to give his surname. “we were shaken at least three times very strongly, like a baby in a crib.” Turkey’s disaster agency said 76 people had been killed, and 440 hurt, as authorities scrambled rescue teams and supply aircraft to the affected area, while declaring a “level 4 alarm” that calls for international assistance. volunteers look for trapped under rubble after 7.9 earthquake hit parts of Turkiye, Syria. State broadcaster RTR showed rescue workers in Osmaniye province using a blanket to carry an injured man out of a collapsed four-storey building and putting him in an ambulance. He was the fifth to be pulled from the rubble, it said. President Tayyip erdogan spoke by telephone with the governors of eight affected provinces to gather information on the situation and rescue efforts, his office said in a statement. A Syrian health official said more than 230 people had been killed and some 600 injured there, most in the provinces of Hama, Aleppo and
Leadership offers condolences ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt
President Arif Alvi and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif have expressed their condolences to Turkey and Syria after a massive earthquake killed hundreds and caused extensive damage to property. The powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked southeastern Turkey and northern Syria early Monday, toppling hundreds of buildings and killing more than 600 people. Hundreds were still believed to be trapped under rubble, and the toll was expected to rise as rescue workers searched mounds of wreckage in cities and towns across the area. On both sides of the border, res-
idents jolted out of sleep by the predawn quake rushed outside on a cold, rainy and snowy winter night, as buildings were flattened and strong aftershocks continued. Rescue workers and residents in multiple cities searched for survivors, working through tangles of metal and giant piles of concrete. A hospital in Turkey collapsed and patients, including newborns, were evacuated from a handful of facilities in Syria. In their separate messages, members of the government conveyed sympathies to the governments and people of the affected countries and expressed grief over the loss.
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latakia, where numerous buildings tumbled down. “The situation is very tragic, tens of buildings have collapsed in the city of Salqin,” a member of the white Helmets rescue organisation said in a video clip on Twitter, referring to a town about five kilometres from the Turkish border. The rescuer on the clip, which showed a rubble-strewn street, said homes were “totally destroyed”. President bashar al-Assad was holding an emergency cabinet meeting to review the damage and discuss the next steps, his office said. State television showed footage of rescue teams searching for survivors in heavy rain and sleet. Health officials urged the public to help take the injured to emergency rooms. “wounded people are still arriving in waves,” Aleppo’s health director, Ziad Hage Taha, told. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese in Aleppo posted photographs of blocks of stone that had crashed down onto its mezzanine. In nearby countryside, rescuers carried a bloodied, wailing baby out of a collapsed building, while, in the town of Azaz, a crane prised away slabs of concrete as rescuers carried away a body wrapped in a sheet. Many buildings in the region had already suffered damage in fighting during Syria’s nearly 12year-long civil war. People in damascus, and in the lebanese cities of beirut and Tripoli, ran into the street and took to their cars to get away from their buildings in case they collapsed, witnesses said. The United States was “profoundly concerned” about the quake in Turkey and Syria and was monitoring events closely, white House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Twitter.
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Pak-IMF talks end without consensus on power sector subsidies, primary deficit ISLAMABAD Shahzad paRacha
A week long technical talks between Pakistan and the International Monetary fund (IMf) ended on Monday without building consensus on power sector subsidies and primary deficit. Sources said that both sides will start discussion on policy level talks from Tomorrow (Tuesday) to finalize the Memorandum of economic Policies framework (MefP) and they will try to sort out the pending issues. Sources said that the Pakistani side could not convince the IMf team about curtailing the energy sector circular debt. The fund wanted the government to increase electricity tariff to overcome losses of dISCOs besides withdrawing Rs100 billion energy related subsidies to the export sector.
Reforms to be undertaken in National Energy Efficiency Authority: PM
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PTI regime dismantled strong economy passed on by PML-N in 2018: Maryam
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Rs 40.00 | Vol XIII No 220 I 44 Pages I Islamabad Edition
Sources said that the government has given assurance that it will withdraw Rs100 billion subsidies to the export sector, however provinces will be free to subsidize the export sector on their own. Meanwhile, the government team has also assured the IMf that they shall make cuts in PSdP as well as increasing the electricity tariff to overcome energy sector circular debt. On the other hand, the government team has also shared a plan with regard to reducing the circular debt of the oil and gas sector. As per the plan, the government will make a cash injection in a single day worth Rs 543 billion to SSGC and SnGPl. The government will pay Rs 241 billion to SSGC and Rs 302 billion to SnGPl. The amount received by SSGC will further clear the circular of OGdCl. The SSGC will be able to repay Rs 154 billion loan to OGdCl and
Rs87 billion to Govt Holdings pvt ltd, sources added. In addition, SnGPl will pay Rs 172 billion to OGdCl, Rs 90 billion to PPl and Rs 40 billion to GHPl, sources added. Sources said that IMf has also forecasted 0.9% primary deficit against the budgeted estimation of 0.5 percent during this year. Sources added that the IMf team has also shown concerns over non implementation of Single Treasury Accounts as a number of departments still are operating accounts in private banks. Sources also added that the IMf team remained committed to its demands with regard to increasing of GST from 17 to 18 percent GST on all goods with a point of view that one percent GST hike will help in collecting another Rs 39 billion, sources added.
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Thaw on cards as PTI drops hint on attending APC g
PTI lIkely TO ATTend APC If fedeRAl GOvT SHOwS flexIbIlITy
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GOvT POSTPOneS MOOT fOR TwO dAyS AfTeR PTI’S ‘SIGnAl’ TO ATTend MOOT ISLAMABAD Mian abRaR
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on Monday dropped a hint on attending the All Parties’ Conference (APC) if formally invited by the federal government. Sources told Pakistan Today that the positive signal conveyed from the PTI was the major reason that the federal government on Monday decided to delay the APC for two days – pushing the moot to february 9. The sources said that a breakthrough was on the cards after initial backchannel contacts between the federal government and the PTI was poised to attend the moot if the federal government may show flexibility on major issues. PTI central leaders lashed out at the “imported government” for its policy of political victimization and revenge, saying that the PTI did not receive any formal invitation pertaining to participation of the ‘imported Prime Minister-convened APC’ to discuss the alarming upsurge of terrorism in the country. In a statement on Monday, PTI Senior vice President fawad Chaudhry and former nA speaker and PTI senior leader Asad Qaiser said that the PTI leaders would consult their participation in the APC once the party received a formal invitation in this regard. fawad Chaudhry said that they came to know about Shahbaz Sharif’s invitation to the PTI pertaining to the participation in the APC through media but the PTI did not receive any formal invitation in this regard hitherto. fawad Chaudhry said that after receiving a formal invitation, they would consult regarding participation of the party in the conference. Asad Qaiser said that the government representatives invited him to participate in the APC over the phone the other day, which, he said, was not a proper way of invitation. He said that they were cognizant of the fact that the country was suffering from serious crises and there was a dire need for unity at this juncture. However, he said that the government’s behavior was immature, which was main stumbling block in creating an environment of unity. He made it clear that if the government was really serious in dealing with mounting problems, it had to change its attitude and had to demonstrate maturity to pull the country out of the prevailing quagmire. Asad Qaiser went on to say that the PTI government had uprooted terrorism from the country through a better strategy and established peace in across the country.
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