Thousands of people remain missing in Turkey and Syria. According to diplomats, the Syrian border points are opening up. “The suffering of the people is indescribable,” reported humanitarian organization coordinator Heinz Wegerer.
The European office of the World Health Organization (WHO) has called for comprehensive help for the many earthquake victims in the Turkish-Syrian border area. WHO regional director Hans Kluge described the quake as the region’s worst natural disaster in a century. The need for help is huge and growing by the hour, he said at an online news conference on Tuesday.
Around 26 million people in Turkey and Syria are in need of humanitarian assistance. “Now is the time for the international community to show the same generosity that Turkey has shown to other nations over the years,” he said on Tuesday. The country is home to the largest refugee population in the world.
More than a week after the devastating earthquakes, there is little hope of finding more survivors. “The rescue phase, in which people are pulled alive from the rubble … is coming to an end,” UN emergency aid coordinator Martin Griffiths said on Monday in Aleppo. President Bashar al-Assad wants to open two more border crossings with Turkey to improve humanitarian aid in the hard-to-reach areas hit by the earthquake in Syria.
Bab Al-Salam and Al Ra’ee are expected to stay open for three months, Griffiths told the UN Security Council on Monday, according to several diplomats. So far, the United Nations has only been able to provide aid to areas that are not controlled by the government via a border crossing (Bab al-Hawa). Northwest Syria is controlled by several rebel groups.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed Assad’s decision: “Opening these border crossings – in addition to facilitating humanitarian access, speeding up visa approvals and facilitating travel between centers – will allow more aid to arrive more quickly. ”.
The Syrian ruler expects international help to rebuild the country. Speaking to Griffiths on Monday, Assad emphasized “the importance of international efforts” to help “restore infrastructure in Syria”, according to a statement released by the Syrian presidency.
“They hope for a miracle”
“The suffering of the people is indescribable,” reported Heinz Wegerer, humanitarian aid coordinator at Hilfswerk International, on Tuesday in Vienna about the situation in the crisis area. He did not return to Austria from Turkey until Monday. “The corpse smell is getting stronger,” said the rescuer.
Austrian organization Hilfswerk International is providing emergency aid in the hard-hit province of Hatay. “What I saw there, what I experienced there, it’s difficult or impossible to put into words,” he said, concerned. The desperate situation of the population in the earthquake area is very close to him. In Iskenderun, for example, there are “four parallel streets with all the buildings left and right destroyed,” Wegerer said. There are still many people missing under the rubble, “people have been sitting in front of the destroyed buildings and resisting since last Monday, hoping for a miracle,” he said.
Quick and uncomplicated help is now urgently needed. In the early days, the local population had to provide most of the humanitarian aid. “Let’s make sure people can keep helping and have staying power,” Wegerer stressed. Up to 50 aid agency workers must ensure this in Turkey. Wegerer also reported problems with emergency aid. The state civil protection authority AFAD “is obviously overwhelmed with coordination”.
UNICEF warns of long-term consequences
Meanwhile, the UN children’s fund Unicef has warned of the catastrophic situation of millions of children in urgent need of humanitarian aid. The total number of boys and girls affected is still unclear, but according to UNICEF, 4.6 million children live in the ten provinces of Turkey affected by the earthquake. More than 2.5 million children are affected in Syria.
“The children and families of Turkey and Syria are facing unimaginable hardship in the aftermath of these devastating earthquakes,” said Catherine Russell, UNICEF Executive Director on Tuesday. “We must do everything in our power to ensure that everyone who survived this disaster receives vital assistance, including clean water, sanitation, basic nutrition and medical care and psychosocial support for children. Not just now, but also in the long term.”
The European office of the World Health Organization (WHO) also called for comprehensive help for the many victims of the earthquake. The need is huge and growing by the hour, said WHO regional director Hans Kluge. Around 26 million people in both countries are in need of humanitarian assistance. “We are facing the worst natural disaster in the WHO region of Europe in a century,” said Kluge.
Thousands of people remain missing
The confirmed death toll stood at over 37,500 as of Tuesday morning and over 80,000 people were injured. Thousands remain missing. Helpers rescued individual living victims on Monday. But there were still small glimmers of hope: Eight days after the devastating earthquake, there were media reports of three people being rescued from the rubble. In Kahramanmaras province, helpers rescued two brothers aged 17 and 21 on Tuesday morning, state news agency Anadolu and broadcaster CNN Türk reported. They stayed, therefore, 198 hours under the rubble. In Adiyaman province, an 18-year-old boy who was also buried for 198 hours was rescued.
According to Anadolu, a 26-year-old woman was rescued alive after 201 hours under rubble in Hatay province. The information could not be independently verified.
The survivors now found must have had access to liquids – such as rainwater, snow or other sources. Usually, a person can do without water for about 72 hours, that is, three days, after which it becomes life-threatening. This deadline has already been exceeded.
Numerous buildings and parts of the infrastructure were destroyed. A report by the Turkish Business and Business Confederation, Türkonfed, estimates damage from the earthquake at around $84 billion.
Long term geological consequences
According to satellite data, severe earthquakes can also have long-term geological consequences. “There appears to have been significant subsidence in the coastal town of Iskenderun, causing flooding, while the earthquake has put many hills across the country at serious risk of landslides,” the European Space Agency said. Broadcaster NTV reported last week that buildings in the Turkish coastal city had to be evacuated because of flooded streets.
In the early morning of February 6, the first tremor of magnitude 7.7 shook the Turkish-Syrian border region, followed hours later by a second aftershock of magnitude 7.6. Since then, there have been more than 2,400 aftershocks. Ten provinces have been affected in Turkey – there is now a three-month state of emergency. More than 100,000 volunteers traveled to the earthquake zone to help. Some of them have already returned to their homeland.
(APA/dpa)