On Sunday, the number of fatalities from the significant earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria reached 33,000. (February 12). The United Nations (UN) has warned that the final number could double. Since the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that shook the region on Monday, 29,605 people have died in Turkey, while 3,574 people have died in Syria, according to officials and medical personnel.
The confirmed total now stands at 33,179.
The UN expressed its disappointment on Sunday over the failure to deliver urgently required aid to Syria’s war-torn regions.
UN relief chief Martin Griffiths said that much more was required for the millions of people whose homes had been destroyed, despite the fact that a convoy carrying supplies for northwest Syria had arrived via Turkey.
“We have so far failed the people in northwest Syria.” They rightly feel abandoned. Looking for international help that hasn’t arrived,” Griffiths said on Twitter.
At the #Türkiye–#Syria border today.
— Martin Griffiths (@UNReliefChief) February 12, 2023
We have so far failed the people in north-west Syria.
They rightly feel abandoned. Looking for international help that hasn’t arrived.
My duty and our obligation is to correct this failure as fast as we can.
That’s my focus now.
In Syria, years of conflict have all but destroyed the healthcare system. Supplies have been slow to arrive in Syria.
The UN convoy of ten trucks crossed into northwest Syria via the Bab al-Hawa border crossing, according to an AFP correspondent, carrying shelter kits including plastic sheeting, ropes and screws and nails, as well as blankets, mattresses and carpets.
Bab al-Hawa is the only point for international aid to reach people in rebel-held areas of Syria after nearly 12 years of civil war, after other crossings were closed under pressure from China and Russia.