The full extent of the earthquake catastrophe in the Syrian-Turkish border region is only gradually becoming clear. In Syria alone, 8.8 million people are affected, wrote the deputy UN representative for Syria Najat Rochdi on Twitter on Sunday – around two weeks after the quake.
“The majority of them are likely to need some form of humanitarian assistance.” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was also expected in the region on Sunday after the disaster, which has so far confirmed 46,000 fatalities.
Some rescue operations on site, where clean-up work has also begun, were coming to an end over the weekend. For example, a search and rescue team from Qatar ended its two-week mission in southern Turkey, as reported by the Qatari news agency QNA. According to the Turkish civil protection agency Afad, more than 40,000 rescuers from home and abroad are still on duty to rescue people who have been buried.
US Secretary of State Blinken wants to visit the hard-hit Turkish province of Hatay on Sunday and get an idea of the situation with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu. At the Turkish air base Incirlik, he should also visit the area where aid is being prepared for transport, the State Department said. A meeting with affected families and search and rescue teams is also planned. Tons of aid came into the country via Incirlik, including some from Germany.
In Syria, the situation was devastating for many people even before the earthquake. Bombardments and fighting during years of civil war, a serious economic crisis and often hardly any public services have made the country a focus for humanitarian aid workers. According to the UN, more than 15 million people needed some form of assistance even before the earthquakes.
And about two weeks after the tremors, not everyone in north-west Syria has received emergency aid. “We are still at the beginning and have not yet seen the worst,” Muhannad Hadi, the UN emergency aid coordinator responsible for Syria, told dpa. So far, for example, around 60,000 people have been supplied with water and around 13,000 earthquake victims with tents. According to the UN, around 40,000 households are currently homeless.
Since the disaster, more than 140 trucks carrying UN aid have traveled from Turkey to rebel-held north-western Syria. There, more than 9,000 buildings were completely or partially destroyed, leaving at least 11,000 people homeless. According to the UN, those affected most urgently needed accommodation such as tents. Around 5,900 people have died in connection with the tremors in Syria so far. However, the number is only updated irregularly.
Despite reports to the contrary in the meantime, the missing professional soccer player Christian Atsu was also found dead on Saturday. “We are deeply saddened by the loss of Christian Atsu,” the Turkish Football Association wrote on Twitter on Saturday. The Ghanaian died under a high-rise building in the Hatay province, which was particularly badly hit by the tremors. Turkish media had meanwhile reported that the footballer had been rescued. Meanwhile, there were still reports from Turkey about the rescue of individual survivors.
