Only two days after announcing a $400 million plea for Syrians, the UN has launched a more than $1 billion funding request for the Turkey-Syria earthquake victims mission.
The people have in Turkey-Syria “faced terrible grief,” according to UN assistance director Martin Griffiths. He continued: “We must stand with them in their darkest hour and ensure they receive the care they need.”
At least 36,187 people have died as a result of the earthquake that struck southern Turkey on February 6; meanwhile, 5,800 people have been confirmed dead in neighboring Syria. Rescue operations have resumed in Turkey, but the number of persons being saved every day has drastically decreased.
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In the province of Kahramanmaras, a young girl was discovered alive amid the wreckage on Thursday, more than ten days after a severe earthquake struck the area. But these kinds of rescues are getting harder to come by.
248 hours after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake occurred in the middle of the night on February 6th, broadcaster TRT Haber reported that the 17-year-old was successfully rescued from the rubble of a fallen apartment building.
Growing resentment towards what they perceive as dishonest building techniques and seriously defective urban planning, which led to thousands of homes and businesses collapsing, is felt by families who are still trying to find their missing relatives.
According to the Syrian government, 1,414 people have died in areas under its control. In the rebel-held northwest, more than 4,000 people have died, but rescuers claim that since February 9 no one has been discovered alive there.
The violence has slowed down the relief effort, and many people in the northwest feel abandoned as supplies nearly always go to other areas of the vast disaster zone.
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An official from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that as of Thursday, 119 UN trucks have passed through the Bab al-Hawa and Bab al-Salam border crossings between Turkey and Syria since the earthquake.
The opposition town of Afrin in Syria has received 15 assistance trucks from Qatar, bringing much-needed food and necessary medications.
