Washington: According to State Department spokesperson Ned Price, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken instructed his Turkish counterpart to "pick up the phone and let us know" what the US can do to assist after a devastating earthquake struck the nation on Monday.

Following the earthquake that claimed more than 2,700 lives across a large portion of Turkey and northwest Syria, the top diplomat for the Biden administration spoke by phone with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

Price stated that it was crucial for the secretary to call Foreign Minister Cavusoglu first to express condolences and to make it clear that whatever Turkiye needed that we could provide, they should pick up the phone and let us know.

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Price said that on Monday morning, Blinken asked his senior staff to determine what funding might be available to aid Turkiye and NGOs operating on the ground in Syria.

According to the US Agency for International Development, Washington has sent out a Disaster Assistance Response Team and is in the process of sending out two urban search and rescue teams from Virginia and California, each of which is expected to have 79 members.

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Others involved in the rescue effort will be housed at the US consulate in the city of Adana in southern Turkey, Price added.

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