The United Nations on Sunday condemned Syria’s failure to get much-needed aid to war-torn areas, while warning that the death toll from the earthquake, which also devastated Turkey, could be as high as 30,000.
A UN convoy with supplies for northwestern Syria arrived via Turkey, but the agency’s relief chief, Martin Griffiths, said more was needed for the millions of people whose homes had been destroyed.
“We have disappointed the people in northwestern Syria so far. They really feel left out. “Looking for international help that has not yet arrived,” Griffiths said on Twitter.
“My duty and our obligation is to correct this failure as quickly as possible.”
Aid has been slow to arrive in Syria, where years of conflict have ravaged the health care system, and parts of the country are controlled by rebels battling President Bashar Assad’s government, which is subject to Western sanctions. Is.
A convoy of ten UN trucks crossed the Bab al-Hawa border crossing into northwest Syria, carrying shelter kits including plastic sheeting, ropes and screws and nails as well as blankets, mattresses and carpets, according to an AFP correspondent. Went.
Thousands of rescuers continue to scour flattened neighborhoods in freezing weather, adding to the misery of millions of people now in dire need of assistance.
But security concerns have prompted some operations to be postponed, and dozens have been arrested in Turkey on charges of looting or trying to defraud victims after the earthquake, according to state media.
Miraculous tales of survival still emerge, although experts warn that with each passing day the hope of finding people alive in the devastation fades.
State media reported that a seven-month-old baby named Hamza was rescued in southern Hatay province more than 140 hours after the quake, while 13-year-old Esma Sultan was also rescued in Gaziantep.
At the Vatican, Pope Francis called for “concrete support” for earthquake victims, urging people to “think about what we can do to help them.”
The UN has warned that at least 870,000 people in Turkey and Syria are in urgent need of hot food. Up to 5.3 million people may be homeless in Syria alone.
Some 26 million people have been affected by the earthquake, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Saturday, appealing for $42.8 million to cope with urgent health needs after dozens of hospitals were damaged.
Turkey’s disaster agency said more than 32,000 people from Turkish organizations were working on the search and rescue efforts, along with 8,294 international rescue workers.
But, in many areas, rescuers said they lacked sensors and other advanced search equipment, meaning they were often reduced to carefully digging through destroyed buildings with shovels or only their hands.
“If we had equipment like this, we would have saved hundreds of lives, if not more,” said Alaa Mubarak, head of civil defense in Jableh, northwestern Syria.
Damascus said it had approved the delivery of humanitarian aid to quake-hit areas outside its control in Idlib province and a convoy was expected to leave on Sunday, although the delivery was later suspended without explanation .
The transport ministry said 62 aid planes had landed in Syria this week and more were due to arrive in the coming days, notably from Saudi Arabia.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged the Security Council to authorize the opening of new cross-border aid points between Turkey and Syria, with a meeting to discuss Syria in the coming days.
Greece’s Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias pledged further support during a meeting with his Turkish counterpart in quake-hit Antakya, setting aside the long-standing rivalry between the two NATO members.
“We don’t need to wait for natural disasters to mend our relations,” Dendias said.
But after days of grief and anguish, there is growing anger in Turkey over the poor quality of buildings as well as the government’s response to the country’s worst disaster in nearly a century.
Officials say 12,141 buildings were either destroyed or seriously damaged in the quake.
Turkish police reportedly detained 12 people, including contractors, over collapsed buildings in the southeastern provinces of Gaziantep and Sanliurfa on Saturday.
Officials and doctors said 24,617 people had died in Turkey and 3,574 in Syria. The total number of confirmed cases now stands at 28,191.