TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The National Fire Agency (NFA) announced Monday (Feb. 13) the donation of the equipment that Taiwan’s rescue and search team brought to Turkey following the devastating earthquakes earlier this month.

The equipment, weighing four tons, includes tools for excavation and propping up structures, logistic items such as tents and power generators, and medical supplies. It will be left in the hands of the AKUT, a Turkish NGO for disaster search and rescue relief.

The decision was supported by Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁), who said Taiwan would provide as much assistance as possible. This was intended to advance aid cooperation between the two countries built since the Jiji earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999, when an AKUT team was among the first to come to Taiwan’s aid, said the NFA.

The bonding has thrived ever since. This time around, Taiwan dispatched two teams, consisting of 130 members and five dogs in total, to help with the rescue effort and managed to pull two survivors from the rubble, including one operation that took 19 hours.

The search for survivors in Turkey and Syria is drawing to a close despite people still being pulled out alive from collapsed buildings a week into the catastrophe. The death toll has surpassed 35,000 and Turkey alone faces a financial loss of $84.1 billion (NT$2.54 trillion), wrote AP.

The Taiwan team saved a trapped woman on Friday (Feb. 10) in an operation that took 19 hours：