Tag: Middle East

The amount is set to increase as the magnitude of the disaster becomes clearer, he said, speaking during a press conference from the Syrian capital, Damascus.

Latest reports put the death toll at more than 33,000, according to international media, with millions more left homeless.

Ramping up operations

Tedros also reported that the Syrian authorities appear open to allowing more border crossings to deliver humanitarian aid into the northwest.

War-ravaged Syria is divided into areas under the control of the Government, opposition forces and armed groups.  

WHO is working across all areas affected by the earthquake, which struck on Monday.  

The UN agency is also scaling up operations across the country, including in the northwest, where the impact is even worse. 

More than 4,300 deaths and 7,600 injuries have been reported there, according to the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA .

Prior to the earthquake, 4.1 million people were already depending on humanitarian aid, and needs were at an all-time high.

Recent developments welcomed 

Tedros stressed the need to take response “to the next level” to reach all populations who require support.

He welcomed the decision by the United States to ease sanctions against Syria in the wake of the tragedy.

“We equally appreciate the recent blanket approval by the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic for the UN for cross-line convoys, as well as measures to increase cross-border access. We hope this continues,” he said.

The WHO chief reported that he had met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad earlier on Sunday afternoon “who indicated he was open to considering additional cross-border access points for this emergency.” 

Ready to move

Tedros said he is waiting to move across conflict lines to northwest Syria.

“We’re on stand-by actually,” he told journalists.  “We can move anytime now through the coastline to the northwest.  Based on the blanket permit, we have already permission from this side. We’re waiting now to hear from the other side. As soon as we get that we will cross to the northwest.”

After the earthquake struck, WHO immediately accessed its pre-positioned supplies in the northwest and Aleppo, thus making treatment of major injuries possible. Staff also began distributing supplies to health facilities.

Responding to needs

Tedros arrived in Syria on Saturday, where WHO and partners have so far distributed 110 tonnes of medical supplies to affected areas across the country. 

A flight is scheduled to arrive in Damascus on Sunday night with vital specialized emergency health supplies for frontline workers.  

The UN agency also is supporting surge capacity of frontline specialized medical teams.

Cascading crises

The earthquake is the latest crisis to hit Syria, following the ongoing conflict, the COVID-19 pandemic, cholera outbreaks, and economic decline.

Twelve years of war have “pulverized” the healthcare system, said Dr. Michael Ryan, WHO Emergencies Director.   Prior to the earthquake, just 50 per cent of health facilities were functioning, but the true impact is much greater.

“Not only physical damage to the infrastructure itself but the exodus of health workers, the loss of salaries, loss of training,” he said.  “It’s just that death by a thousand cuts to the system.”

‘An unfolding tragedy’

The WHO chief expressed deep respect and admiration for the survivors, first responders and health workers, though pointing to the immense needs they face.

National and international organizations, but also neighbours, mosques, churches and community groups, have been racing to deliver everything from food, clean water and medical care, to a safe space for people to sleep.

Tedros was in Aleppo on Saturday and visited a WHO-supported mobile health clinic distributing medicines to people with conditions such as headaches, anxiety and difficulty sleeping

“WHO and other organizations have trained community workers to offer rapid mental health support, but much more is needed,” he said.

While in the city, Tedros met a young girl called Nour, who lost her parents and suffered a broken arm when their six-storey apartment building collapsed, noting that she “is just one example of an unfolding tragedy that is affecting millions”.

Cross-border aid 

The UN’s top humanitarian official continues his mission in the region, OCHA reported on Sunday.

Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths travelled to the Turkish side of Baba Al-Hawa, the only remaining border crossing for UN aid delivery into northwest Syria authorized by the Security Council.

Mr. Griffiths also visited a UN hub in Hatay, where he witnessed the transshipment and monitoring of 10 trucks loaded with aid provided by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) prior to setting off to Syria. 

This was the fourth UN cross-border aid convoy since the earthquake struck northern Türkiye on Monday, affecting people on both sides of the border. 

The first convoy, with six trucks, crossed into Syria on Thursday following a three-day temporary disruption from damaged key roads. 

A second convoy of 14 IOM trucks crossed on Friday, followed by a third the next day comprised of 22 trucks containing medicines, cholera test kits, blankets, hygiene kits  solar lamps and other relief items.

OCHA said aftershocks are reportedly continuing in northwest Syria, forcing people to keep fleeing their homes. 

Civil defense teams concluded search and rescue operations on Saturday and have moved onto removing debris and recovering bodies, however efforts are being hampered by fuel shortages and a lack of machinery and vehicles.

‘Put politics aside’: UN Envoy

Meanwhile, the UN Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, arrived in Damascus on Sunday on a pre-planned visit.

He affirmed that humanitarians will do all they can to access everyone who needs help, and underlined his efforts to rally support.

“We are reaching out of course to bilateral countries, we are mobilizing funding and we’re trying to tell everyone put politics aside. This is a time to unite behind a common effort to support the Syrian people,” he said.

Mr. Pedersen also stressed the need for crossline and cross-border access.  “I’m in close touch with the UN humanitarian family, we’re working together to try to mobilize this support and that of course is my key message during this visit to Syria.”
 

Mr. Griffiths was speaking in the Turkish city of Kahramanmaraş, where recovery efforts are ongoing in frigid temperatures.

He met with families left homeless by the disaster and listened to their stories of shock and devastation. 

“I am here to make sure that these people also are not forgotten,” he said.

Hope for survivors

The UN relief chief also spoke with search and rescue teams as they carried out their operations in the devastated central parts of the city, amid collapsed buildings with excavation equipment digging through the debris.

UN teams are already on the ground, and more than 130 countries have dispatched responders, sniffer dogs, experts and other personnel.

“There has never been an international response, a Turkish response, to a natural disaster, as we see here in these terrible days,” said Mr. Griffiths.

He praised the courage of people, including parents, who are working round the clock in efforts to rescue their families and children from the rubble – “hoping for one more sound, for one more person to survive.”

Humanitarian support

It is estimated that more than 20,000 people have died in the double earthquake, which struck southeastern Türkiye and northern Syria early on Monday morning. 

Millions more have been left homeless, including Syrians displaced by the 12-year war in their homeland and thousands of refugees who have fled across the border.

For Mr. Griffiths, the next phase will be to look after those affected by the tragedy.

“And I’ve met some of them already today,” he said, “people who’ve lost their homes, whose children don’t have schools to go to, who have no food, who have no money, who depend on the generosity of the Turkish people, the Turkish government and the international community.”

Mr. Griffiths is expected to visit the UN-authorised cross-border operation to Syria in the south of Türkiye on Sunday before travelling there.

The UN and partners will also launch appeals for the two countries.

In a video on his Twitter, Mr. Griffiths said “I hope what we will see is the same kind of generous, immediate and urgent international response to humanitarian needs that we have seen to those organizations helping the people of these cities to rescue the living from the dead.” 

Heartbreaking conditions

Meanwhile, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, arrived in Aleppo, Syria, on Saturday.

“I’m heartbroken to see the conditions survivors are facing – freezing weather and extremely limited access to shelter, food, water, heat and medical care,” he wrote in a post on his official Twitter account.

In a separate tweet, Tedros recounted how he met two babies, Nour and Omar, who lost their parents in the earthquake. 

“There are no words to express the pain they are going through. Grateful to colleagues and partners who are providing them with needed care, comfort and love,” he wrote.
 

“Aid, life-saving aid, is desperately needed by civilians wherever they are irrespective of borders and boundaries,” he told journalists in Geneva. “We need it urgently, through the fastest, most direct, and most effective routes. They need more of absolutely everything.”

According to UN aid coordinating office, OCHA, six trucks carrying “shelter items and non-food item kits, including blankets and hygiene kits” reached Bab al-Hawa on Thursday, the only UN Security Council border crossing authorized for aid delivery.

He urged the response not to be politicized, and for the focus to be on “those who we can still save”.

The Special Envoy’s appeal followed a warning from UN humanitarians on Wednesday that the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance in the country – assessed at a staggering 15.3 million before the earthquake disaster – will have to be revised upwards.

United on humanitarian needs

“We need to do everything to make sure that there are no impediments whatsoever to delay lifesaving support that is needed in Syria,” Mr. Pedersen continued, after chairing a meeting of the Humanitarian Taskforce for Syria which facilitates aid deliveries to the war-torn country. “I was struck by the unity in the meeting we had today by all the different Member States that participated,” he added.

Asked whether it was now time to lift some sanctions on Syria to ensure that aid can reach those in need, the Special Envoy replied that he had discussed this point “in particular with the representatives from the United States and from the European Union and they assured me that they will do whatever they can to make sure that there are no impediments to assistance coming to Syria to help in this operation”.

Window of survival

In areas affected by the double earthquake tragedy, rescuers have continued to pull more people alive from the rubble, but the chances of finding trapped survivors are diminishing fast.

The first 72 hours would always be crucial, humanitarians explained, after the initial 7.8 magnitude quake close struck to Gaziantep, Türkiye, early on Monday morning, followed by another 7.5 magnitude earthquake several hours later.

The combined, confirmed, death toll in Syria and Türkiye is now more than 17.000 people. With more victims expected, the UN Syria Envoy asked for “access and resources irrespective of borders and boundaries”.

He added: “The number of casualties continues to rise as we are speaking in both countries and there are still too many people who are under the rubble in the freezing cold. The earthquake struck as the humanitarian crisis in northwest Syria was already worsening, with needs at their highest level since the conflict began.”

War-torn tragedy

Almost 12 years into Syria’s devastating civil war, the country faces massive economic hardship and one of the world’s largest displacement crises. Prior to the earthquake, and based on assessments, the UN calculated that more than four million people in northwest Syria depended on cross-border aid alone.

Syria is divided into areas under the control of the Syrian government, opposition forces and other armed groups. Government and opposition areas have been hit particularly hard by the earthquake.

“We need support to go into the northwest, we need support to go into the government-controlled areas that have been particularly hit, Aleppo and Hama …and we know that some support is already coming in to the airports in Aleppo and also to Damascus,” Mr. Pedersen said.

In all affected parts of Syria, humanitarians have reported an urgent need for logistic, skilled rescue teams and temporary shelters. The UN is helping to mobilize emergency teams and relief operations, and many countries have already offered their support.