Many countries offered help and condolences

ANKARA/VAN/MUS - Many counties from all over the world offered help and condolences to Turkey after an earthquake measuring 7.2 on Richter scale hit the eastern province of Van on Sunday. At least 138 people were killed and 350 others were wounded, while 970 buildings were demolished in the earthquake. The United States, Britain, Greece, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Israel, Ireland, Poland, Hungary, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Georgia, China, Ukraine, Russia, Canada, South Korea, Japan, Iran, Kosovo, the EU, NATO and the UN offered to help Turkey after the earthquake. Presidents of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), Azerbaijan, the United States, France, Israel, Serbia and Iraq, Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC), President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as well as foreign ministers of Germany, Britain, the United States and Ireland called Turkish officials and offered help and condolences. Meanwhile, schools were recessed in Van for the next three days, as well as Alparslan University in the eastern Mus province for two days after the earthquake.