LAST UPDATE | 9 Feb 2023
THE DEATH TOLL from the massive earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria has climbed to more than 21,000, as hopes fade of finding survivors stuck under rubble in freezing weather.
Officials and medics said 17,674 people had died in Turkey and 3,377 in Syria from Monday’s 7.8-magnitude tremor, bringing the confirmed total to 21,051.
An aid convoy has today reached rebel-held northwestern Syria, the first since a devastating earthquake that has killed thousands.
“The first UN aid convoy entered today,” said Mazen Alloush, media officer at the crossing.
An AFP correspondent saw six trucks passing through the crossing from Turkey, carrying tents and hygiene products.
Alloush noted the delivery had been expected before Monday’s quake, but said: “It could be considered an initial response from the United Nations, and it should be followed, as we were promised, with bigger convoys to help our people.”
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said in a statement the delivery includes blankets, mattresses, tents and “basic relief items … to cover the needs of at least 5,000 people”.
“We are working very closely with authorities to support in any way we can and hope that aid will quickly reach those most impacted,” said IOM head Antonio Vitorino.
But the White Helmets rescue group that operates in rebel-held areas said they were disappointed by the aid, which they said was part of “routine” deliveries.
“This is certainly not special aid and equipment for search and rescue teams,” they said in a statement on Twitter.
“This makes us very disappointed at a time when we are desperate for such equipment to help us save lives from under the rubble.”
A group of leading Irish humanitarian organisations have launched a joint-appeal calling on the Irish public to help support people impacted by the earthquake. People can donate online here.
The White Helmets had earlier appealed for international help in their “race against time”.
The UK government said today it would provide “at least an additional £3 million in funding, bringing our total to £3.8m” to support the White Helmets.
“The funding will go to support recovery projects including assessing building safety, reopening roads and reconnecting utilities,” it said in a statement.
The aid delivery mechanism from Turkey into rebel-held areas of Syria through the Bab al-Hawa crossing is the only way UN assistance can reach civilians without passing through areas controlled by Syrian government forces.
While the crossing itself was not affected by the quake, the road leading to it was damaged, temporarily disrupting operations, a UN spokesman said on Tuesday.
UN special envoy Geir Pedersen said today that the emergency response in Syria should “not be politicised” following “one of the most catastrophic earthquakes the region has seen in about a century”.
He told reporters in Geneva that the UN had been “assured today that we would be able to get through the first assistance”.
Syria has been under Western sanctions since the government’s brutal crackdown on protesters in 2011 which spiraled into a civil war.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged the Security Council to authorise the opening of new cross-border humanitarian aid points between Turkey and Syria to deliver aid.
“This is the moment of unity, it’s not a moment to politicise or to divide but it is obvious that we need massive support,” Guterres told reporters.
World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said he is heading to Syria.
“On my way to #Syria, where @WHO is supporting essential health care in the areas affected by the recent earthquake, building on our long-standing work across the country,” the WHO chief tweeted.
Planes carrying aid from the United Arab Emirates, Russia, Iran and other countries have landed since Monday in Syrian government-controlled airports in Damascus, Aleppo and Latakia.
Rescuers have been searching for survivors still trapped under rubble.
The UN’s resident Syria coordinator El-Mostafa Benlamlih told AFP yesterday that no fresh deliveries of humanitarian aid had been sent to the rebel-held northwest from within Syria in about three weeks.
He said the UN has some stocks in the area – enough to feed 100,000 people for one week.
Speaking from Damascus, Benlamlih said the destruction in government-held provinces “is huge”.
“But we know also that the destruction in the northwest is huge and we need to get there to assess.”
Elsewhere in Syria, dozens of families have fled their flooded northerwestern village after a dam collapsed, an AFP correspondent said.
Water has partially submerged houses and trees in rebel-held Tloul.
Hopes are fading for rescuing survivors of the earthquake, with experts fearing the death toll will continue to rise sharply.
Bitter cold has hampered the four-day search of thousands of flattened buildings and the 72-hour mark that experts consider the most likely period to save lives has passed.
Relatives were left scouring body bags laid out in a hospital car park in Turkey’s southern city of Antakya to search for missing relatives, an indication of the scale of the tragedy.
A decade of civil war and Syrian-Russian aerial bombardment had already destroyed hospitals, collapsed the economy and prompted electricity, fuel and water shortages.
Temperatures in the Turkish city of Gaziantep plunged to minus five degrees Celsius early today, but thousands of families spent the night in cars and makeshift tents – too scared or banned from returning to their homes.
Parents walked the streets of the city – close to the epicentre of Monday’s earthquake – carrying their children in blankets because it was warmer than sitting in a tent.
Some people have found sanctuary with neighbours or relatives. Some have left the region, but many have nowhere to go.
Gyms, mosques, schools and some stores have opened up at night. But beds are still at a premium and thousands spend the nights in cars with engines running to provide heat.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after mounting criticism online over the initial disaster response, visited one of the hardest-hit spots, Kahramanmaras, and acknowledged problems.
“Of course, there are shortcomings. The conditions are clear to see. It’s not possible to be ready for a disaster like this,” he said yesterday.
Irish humanitarian aid organisations are scaling up their emergency response in Turkey and Syria following Monday’s devastating earthquake.
Dóchas, the Irish association of non-governmental development organisations, yesterday said Irish NGOs are on the ground and working through local partners to help the survivors.
The following Irish aid organisations have launched emergency appeals to support the relief effort:
Today, Irish Emergency Alliance members also launched a joint-appeal calling on the Irish public to help support people impacted by the quake.
Irish Emergency Alliance members include Action Aid, Christian Aid, Plan International, Tearfund, Trócaire and World Vision Ireland.
“This is a time for concerted, united action,” Irish Emergency Alliance executive director Brian Casey said.
“The impacts of these earthquakes have been devastating. In the midst of an already harsh winter, vulnerable children, families and others have been shaken to the core by the devastating earthquakes,” Casey said.
“People have been left without shelter in freezing winter conditions, with humanatarian needs expected to grow in the coming days,” he said.
Casey said that access to clean water will likely be a challenge, “bringing the risk of cholera and other diseases”.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin on Monday announced that Ireland will send €2 million in emergency assistance to Turkey and Syria.
In a statement, the Department of Foreign Affairs said the €2 million allocation is in direct response to the emergency appeal for funding from the Government of Turkey and aid agencies working in Turkey and northwest Syria.
The United States this evening announced a $85 million package for emergency relief.
The US Agency for International Development said that the funding will go to partners on the ground “to deliver urgently needed aid for millions of people” including through food, shelter and emergency health services.
The funding will also support safe drinking water and sanitation to prevent the outbreak of disease, USAID said in a statement.
The Turkey-Syria border is one of the world’s most active earthquake zones.
Monday’s quake was the largest Turkey has seen since 1939, when 33,000 people died in the eastern Erzincan province.
In 1999, a 7.4-magnitude earthquake killed more than 17,000.
With reporting by – © AFP 2023
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