According to the United Nations, 8.8 million people in Syria are affected by the aftermath of the earthquake disaster. “Most of them are expected to be in need of some form of humanitarian assistance,” Syrian Deputy UN Envoy Najat Rochdi wrote on Twitter on Sunday. In the days following the February 6 earthquake, activists and aid workers in rebellious areas of northwest Syria complained about a lack of UN aid.
The United Nations (UN) is fully committed to doing more to help all Syrians, Rochdi emphasized. During a visit to the region, UN emergency relief coordinator Martin Griffiths acknowledged the failure to help victims in the northwest. Observers also saw bureaucratic hurdles at the UN, whose goods could arrive faster with smaller vehicles than the usual large trucks due to broken roads.
Since the disaster, more than 140 trucks carrying UN aid have traveled from Turkey into rebel-held northwest Syria. There, more than 9,000 buildings were completely or partially destroyed, leaving at least 11,000 people homeless. According to the UN, those most affected urgently needed accommodation, such as tents.
At least 8.8 million people in #Syria were affected by the earthquake; w/majority anticipated to need some form of humanitarian assistance. O @UN is fully committed to doing more to help all Syrians. @UNEnvoySyria
— Najat Rochdi (@rochdi_najat) February 19, 2023
still in the beginning
Nearly two weeks after the powerful earthquake, not everyone in northwest Syria has received emergency aid. “We are still at the beginning and we haven’t seen the worst yet,” Muhannad Hadi, the UN emergency aid coordinator in charge of Syria, told the German Press Agency. So far, about 60,000 people have been supplied with water and about 13,000 earthquake victims with tents. According to the UN, around 40,000 families are homeless.
If the necessary funding does not materialize, which the UN estimates at 400 million dollars (376.5 million euros) for Syria alone, it will not be possible to help everyone in the future, warns Hadi.
Consequently, no help is still coming from the government areas to the rebel-held earthquake regions. The UN really wants more aid to flow across the conflicting parties’ domestic borders into the northwest of the country, which was hit hard by the earthquake. “We haven’t been able to implement this yet”, admits the emergency aid coordinator. Until now, UN transports to rebel areas have only come from Turkey. After years of civil war, Syria is fragmented into areas under different controls. This makes humanitarian relief after the disaster more difficult.
UN fears violence against women and children
The UN also fears violence against women and children who currently sleep outdoors or in emergency shelters without safe access to toilets. Hadi warns that protection for these vulnerable groups in northwest Syria urgently needs to be scaled up. Many children lost their loved ones.
Meanwhile, in Turkey, the government has asked homeowners to provide housing for earthquake victims. A website has been created through which landlords can offer vacant or unused apartments and houses, free of charge or at a low rent – for at least three months, Vice President Fuat Oktay told state broadcaster TRT. (apa)