Bab al-Hawa, Syria
Reuters
Available funding and new border crossings were still not enough to help quake-hit citizens in Syria’s battered north-west, the head of the WHO said on Wednesday, adding he was “disturbed and heartbroken” by a visit to the rebel-held region.
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was speaking to reporters after visiting a hospital in the area, where more than 4,000 people have died as a result of last month’s devastating earthquake.
Director-General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus walks at a hospital supported by Syrian American Medical Society, in the aftermath of the deadly earthquake, in Bab al-Hawa crossing at the Syrian-Turkish border, in Idlib governorate, Syria, on 1st March, 2023. PICTURE: Reuters/Khalil Ashawi
Following the quake, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad allowed the opening of two more crossings with Turkey, bringing the total to three, to allow aid into the region held by his armed opponents.
However, more access – and funding – were still needed, Ghebreyesus said.
“I don’t think the existing, the three, will be enough. Any available access should be used,” he told reporters in Syria.
He said he did not discuss with local authorities the possibility of aid coming in across front lines from government-held zones. Other UN agencies and international aid groups have criticised hardline rebels for rejecting such deliveries.
The UN had already struggled to gather funding to address Syria’s worsening humanitarian situation before the earthquake hit, and had secured just half of its 2022 appeal.
It said it would need nearly $US400 million over three months to respond to those affected by the quake in Syria alone.
The opposition-controlled zone in the northwest is home to some 4 million people, many of them displaced by conflict in other parts of their homeland.
Hospitals there are in particularly dire conditions, having been hit by air strikes over the years and facing chronic shortages of equipment.
The UN said Syria’s needs are now at its highest since the start of the conflict nearly 12 years ago.
A destroyed building is seen at night, in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake, in Antakya, Hatay province, Turkey, on 21st February 2023. PICTURE: Reuters/Clodagh Kilcoyne/File photo.
The death toll in Turkey from last month’s devastating earthquake has risen to 45,089, the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said on Wednesday, bringing the total toll including Syria to about 51,000.
The earthquake and subsequent powerful tremors injured more than 108,000 in Turkey and left millions sheltering in tents or seeking to move to other cities.
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President Tayyip Erdogan has pledged to rebuild homes within a year but it will be many months before thousands can leave tents or container housing, and daily queues for food, and move into permanent housing.
He is due to give a speech to his ruling AK Party deputies in parliament at 0900 GMT, with the focus on the quake and presidential and parliamentary elections. They are set to be held by June and present the largest political challenge Erdogan has faced in his two-decade rule.
More than 160,000 Turkish buildings containing 520,000 apartments collapsed or were severely damaged in the disaster, the worst in the country’s modern history.
Some two million people were registered as having fled the region, which has been hit by more than 11,000 aftershocks since the initial quake, AFAD said in a statement.
It said it had put up more than 350,000 tents, with tent cities established at 332 places across the region. Container housing settlements were being established in 162 places.
– With DAREN BUTLER
