The US is sending an additional $100 million in earthquake aid to Turkey and Syria

The United States is sending another $100 million in humanitarian aid to Turkey and Syria to deal with a devastating earthquake that has killed more than 46,000 people and left millions homeless.

The new aid brings total US assistance to $185 million and will go to international and non-governmental groups involved in rescue and recovery efforts.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who visited Turkey to closely monitor the effects of the 7.8-magnitude earthquake on Sunday, said that the new aid includes blankets, mattresses, food packages, warm clothes, tents, and shelter materials.

The aid will also support programs that support medical and health services, clean water and sanitation efforts, and education for children and youth affected by the earthquake.

Blinken and his Turkish counterpart, Mevlud Çavuşoğlu, toured some of the earthquake debris by helicopter on Sunday. Blinken is expected to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday.

The meetings of US diplomats in Turkey take place after Çavuşoğlu’s visit to Washington last month. The two NATO allies have been trying to mend relations over differences over Russia’s intervention in Ukraine, as well as bids by Sweden and Finland to join the alliance.

Against all odds, rescuers continued to pull people out from the rubble of the Feb. 6 earthquake, but the head of the country’s disaster management agency said their efforts would end on Sunday.

Kemal Kirishci, a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank, told VOA’s Turkish Service that relations between the two countries are likely to improve with Blinkens’ visit and US aid.

To be realistic, I don’t expect any major progress, he said. I think the earthquake was obviously provocative, causing untold destruction and pain, but it also creates opportunities for re-engagement on seemingly intractable issues like Sweden and Finland joining the US-led NATO.

Erdogan has opposed the two Scandinavian countries, particularly Sweden, joining NATO because he believes they have supported Kurdish militants who have long fought against the Turkish government.

The fact that these contacts exist [about the earthquake aid] Kirishchi said that there is a positive development in themselves. I think this reconnection could create some opportunities for collaboration.

VOA State Department correspondent Nike Ching and Turkish Service staffer Ezel Sahinkaya contributed to this report.