Earthquake disaster: The Secretary-General welcomes Syria’s decision to open aid corridors

Only one crossing point – Bab al-Hawa – has been open for humanitarian workers since the Feb. 6 earthquake that hit the border region in southern Turkey and northwest Syria, which has been in the grip of civil war for 12 years, and is now. The last remaining area is partially controlled by opposition forces.

I welcome Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s decision today to open the Bab al-Salam and al-Rai crossing points from Turkey into northwest Syria for an initial period of three months to allow timely delivery of humanitarian assistance. Antonio Guterres said in a statement.

As hope for more survivors to be pulled out alive from the rubble fades, in Syria more than 4,300 deaths were reported in the northwest on Sunday. The death toll in Turkey has now reportedly passed 31,000.

“extreme urgency”

It is clear, Mr. Guterres added, that “providing food, health and nutrition, protection, shelter, winter supplies and other life-saving supplies to all millions of affected people is of the utmost importance.”

“Opening these crossing points — along with facilitating humanitarian access, speeding up visa approval, and facilitating travel between hubs,” he added, “will allow more aid to enter faster.”

Lifting equipment and necessary medications

Humanitarian workers working to save lives in Syria and Turkey made an urgent appeal on Monday for more heavy machinery to clear rubble and debris in towns and villages devastated by last week’s earthquakes, along with medical supplies.

This includes ambulances, medicine, shelter and non-food items, including heating, emergency food supplies and so-called water, sanitation and hygiene assistance – water, sanitation and hygiene, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York at the regular daily briefing.

Emergency and search and rescue teams have been deployed to assess and prioritize urgent needs and provide life-saving assistance in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake near the Turkish-Syrian border.

The United Nations aid coordination agency, OCHA, said that the areas of Harem, Afrin and Jabal Samman are the most affected in northwestern Syria, and that more than 50 trucks loaded with aid from five UN agencies have arrived so far through the only international crossing in Bab al-Hawa. From Turkey.

The United Nations continues to mobilize

“The United Nations continues to mobilize emergency teams and relief operations,” Dujarric stressed.

At Turkey’s request, the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team with a total of 50 members has been deployed to the assistance center in Gaziantep and three other centers in the affected area to support the coordination of international urban search and rescue operations, he added.

A UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination Team liaison group with Turkey’s Ministry of Disaster and Emergency Management, which is leading the response, has also been set up in Ankara.

Speaking from there to UN News on Monday, UNDAC’s Winston Chang said the scale and damage within the disaster area in the south of the country was “one of the worst we’ve seen.”

6,000 high-rise buildings are now rubble

“We are looking at a devastation area of ​​more than 50,000 square kilometers, covering an area of ​​ten provinces… We count now, 6,000 collapsed and tall buildings.”

He said there were still reports coming in, eight days after the deadly earthquake in Turkey and Syria, of “miraculous rescues,” including a newborn baby who was still attached to the umbilical cord, pulled from the rubble.

He added, “We have 25 different disaster groups fighting in all sectors from environmental, medical and military, of course, coordinating disaster response,” noting that in the Turkish National Emergency Center, there was a strong sense of unity, and the message is to help those in need.

Regarding the horrific scale of the disaster, he said that compared to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, in which 220,000 people were killed, “I think this disaster doesn’t pale in comparison.”

UN disaster relief teams in Syria

Mr. Dujarric said a separate seven-member UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination team has arrived in Syria and is supporting the response in Aleppo, Latakia and Homs. Currently, eight international rescue teams are working in the earthquake-affected areas of Syria.

“The United Nations is rapidly increasing its assistance, including through cross-border aid operations to the northwest,” he added, before announcing news of President Assad’s decision.

On Monday afternoon in New York, the Security Council held a special session to discuss accelerating the provision of aid to the affected areas in northwest Syria, it was reported.

On Monday, six trucks carrying food and non-food items from the World Food Program crossed the Bab al-Hawa crossing, a UN spokeswoman said.

“Since February 9, 58 truckloads of essential humanitarian aid have crossed into northwest Syria from southern Turkey.”

Head of Relief in Damascus

UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths was in the earthquake zone over the weekend to survey the huge challenges of the relief operation and arrived in Damascus on Monday.

Earlier in the day, Mr. Dujarric said, he was in Aleppo and spoke to families who had lost loved ones and homes.

He also met first responders and aid workers who worked tirelessly to meet urgent humanitarian needs.

“He said the trauma of the people he spoke to in Aleppo was palpable – and this is a trauma the world needs help healing from. Our commitment, Mr. Griffiths said, is to ensure shelter, food, education, psychosocial care and a sense of future for people affected by the devastating earthquake.”

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