Leaders from the religions of Islam, Christianity and Judaism came together on Tuesday to hold a prayer service in honor of the victims of the twin earthquakes that left thousands dead in Türkiye and Syria since Feb. 6.
Dozens of participants prayed and sang hymns for those who have been injured or displaced by the disaster and for their speedy recovery at the prayer ceremony.
The event was organized by Elpidophoros, the Greek Orthodox archbishop of America, at Georgetown University in the U.S. capital Washington D.C.
The Turkish Ambassador to the United States Hasan Murat Mercan, Turkish Embassy Religious Services Counselor Bilal Kuşpınar and Nurullah Çelebi, one of the imams of the Diyanet Center of America, as well as Bishop Denis J. Madden of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Mor Dionysius John Kawak and Archbishop Vicken Aykazyan of the Armenian Apostolic Church took part in the event.
Rabbi Richard Marker of the International Jewish Committee on Inter-religious Consultations and Jason Isaacson of the American Jewish Committee attended on behalf of the Jewish community.
Imam Çelebi recited verses from Islam’s holy book, the Quran, while Ambassador Mercan expressed his gratitude for all material and emotional support extended to the earthquake-stricken regions.
At least, 35,418 people were killed by two massive earthquakes that jolted southeastern Türkiye last Monday, as reported by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday.
The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 tremors were centered in Kahramanmaraş and struck nine other provinces, Hatay, Gaziantep, Adıyaman, Malatya, Adana, Diyarbakır, Kilis, Osmaniye and Şanlıurfa. Over 13 million people have been affected by the quakes.
Several countries in the region, as far as Lebanon and the island of Cyprus, also felt the strong tremors, with neighboring Syria taking the biggest damage after Türkiye.
The already war-ravaged country’s death toll has climbed above 5,800, with nearly 15,000 people injured.
While rescuers pulled out over 8,000 people from the wreckage in Türkiye so far, authorities expect casualties to increase as hope for rescuing more survivors in the rubble fades on the 10th day.