Tragic devastation in Syria and Turkey

The tremendous devastation in Syria and Turkey as a result of the Feb, 6 earthquakes is an ongoing important focus of world action. The latest death toll is more than 35,000, and far more people have been injured.

Over one million are estimated to have lost homes as a result of this disaster.

These terrible numbers will continue to grow as relief work proceeds, rescuing the living, attending to the dead.

U.S. relief and rescue efforts began almost immediately. These encompass nonprofit and volunteer initiatives along with government aid.

The Biden administration is providing $85 million in emergency assistance. Elite highly-trained disaster assistance and response teams of the U.S. Agency for International Development have been working in the hardest hit areas. They have been joined by many other government agencies. Also providing help are Goleta- based Direct Relief and Santa Barbara-based ShelterBox USA.

As usual in humanitarian aid around the world, the U.S. military is playing a major role, often little reported.

While these urgent needs are the priority, we should also plan seriously about longer-time implications for U.S. foreign policy. There may be opportunities to reconcile the tense, at times violent relations between Syria and Turkey. Combining heart with head defines leadership.

Over the past two decades, U.S. relations with both Syria and Turkey have been difficult, to some extent understandably.

Syria remains a harsh, rigid dictatorship, long ruled by the Assad family. During the Obama administration, our relations became particularly strained. In Turkey, long-term ruler Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey has become autocratic.