The Metropolitan Municipal Council began its meeting with a declaration in connection with the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, read by the chairman Georgi Georgiev.

It states that the devastating earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria and buried tens of thousands under the ruins, destroyed the homes of millions of people and destroyed unique historical sites from the world cultural heritage, are an occasion to express human empathy, to show solidarity with the victims of the natural disaster .

Such tragedies turn the world into a community - a community of people, the declaration said.

Let us also give the deserved respect to the emergency teams of the Metropolitan Municipality and the mayor for the once again quick response of our rescue teams, who have become a benchmark not only for professionalism, but also for humanity and sacrifice, the councilors also note.

The municipal councilors honored the victims of the earthquake with a moment of silence and standing up. 

The mayor of Sofia, Yordanka Fandakova, expressed her condolences to the victims.

She recalled that 15 people from the "Emergency Assistance and Prevention" Directorate are helping on the spot.

We are preparing a replacement, on Saturday most of them will go home and we will send a new team to continue helping on the spot, Fandakova said.

According to her, five volunteers from the voluntary formation of the Metropolitan Municipality have been on site since morning. 

The meeting of the municipal councilors continues with hearings on the case of illegal logging in the Boris garden.