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Turkey-Syria earthquake: Survivors urgently need faster aid to ‘save lives’ – as WHO says disaster ‘overwhelmed everyone’ | World News


The World Health Organization said the earthquakes that hit Turkey and Syria had “overwhelmed everyone” – amid warnings that the flow of aid must be urgently accelerated to save lives.

The death toll in both countries continues to rise and now stands at more than 33,000.

Dr Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO, said it was “wrong” to compare the impact in both countries when it relied too much on “the magnitude of the earthquake” and “population density”. .

“No question, definitely on the side Turkeyit’s a matter of experience in search and rescue, in disaster response,” said Dr. Ryan.

“They’ve had many disasters in the past – but I think what’s clear is that this disaster has overwhelmed everyone.”

Survivors of the earthquake in the rebel-held town of Jandaris in Syria
Image:
Survivors of the earthquake in the rebel-held town of Jandaris in Syria

There has been criticism about the amount of aid reaching Syria – the hardest hit areas are largely controlled by a Muslim group wary of shipments from government-controlled areas.

There is also only one border crossing open from Turkey to northwestern Syria, and the first UN convoy arrived in the area only on Thursday.

The WHO panel, speaking in Syria, said the country was battling not only the aftermath but also freezing temperatures and the end of the cholera outbreak.

Regional Emergencies Director Dr Rick Brennan said some 350,000 people in Aleppo and Latakia were immediately displaced and that providing care was a “huge undertaking”.

He said many people are being accommodated in mosques, schools, churches and malls, but overcrowding is a problem.

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WHO ‘committed to supporting Syria’

“Those are not acceptable conditions, so we are working with our partners to consider other options,” he said.

There is also a higher risk of disease due to overcrowding and poor sanitation.

Syrians ‘abandoned’

The United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, is traveling to Syria to try to urgently improve the flow of aid.

“So far, we have let the people of northwest Syria down. They feel it is right to be abandoned. Seeking international help has not yet come,” he wrote on Twitter on Sunday.

He told Sky’s Kay Burley that additional border crossings from Turkey to Syria must open emergency “to save lives”, call it aan open and closed case on humanitarian terms”.

Andrew Mitchell, the UK’s development minister, also admitted in a Sky News interview that aid to Syria is “much longer” than its neighbour.

He said he believes the total number of deaths in both countries could reach around 50,000.

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‘Add junction point needed to save lives’

Read more:
Witness: The search for life becomes a tender to honor the dead
‘Clash’ caused some aid organizations to suspend work

Meanwhile, the amount of money raised by people in the UK has surpassed £60 million in just three days, the Disaster Emergencies Committee said on Sunday.

The committee distributes the money among a group of the UK’s leading aid charities.

a week since Monday’s earthquakethe possibility of more people being dug up alive – like a boy rescued after five days – was all but disappeared.

The focus now is on finding countless bodies trapped under the rubble of countless collapsed buildings.

About 131 people linked to the construction industry have been detained or have warrants for arrest, according to Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay.

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The baby was pulled from the rubble after 139 hours

Many of the buildings that collapsed were said to be inadequate, as building codes are rarely enforced in the country.

The Justice Department said it would set up an Earthquake Crime Investigation Bureau.

Looting of businesses and homes has also been reported in some areas of Turkey, with the country’s justice minister saying on Sunday that 57 people had been arrested.

President Erdogan said thieves will be dealt with severely, but some business owners have already cleaned out their shops.

Two German aid organizations and a rescue force from the Austrian army also forced to suspend work for a time on Saturday, citing “flashes between different groups” and “shootings” in a Turkish town.

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