13, February, 2023
More than 29,000 people have died in Syria and Turkey as a result of Monday’s earthquakes.
The UN says around 800,000 people in the region are in urgent need of hot meals. The relief effort across Turkey and Syria remains slow and is continually hampered by freezing conditions.
Speaking to reporters, the UN Aid Chief, Martin Griffiths, said there was an urgent need for medical assistance, food and shelter for the survivors.
‘I think it is difficult to estimate precisely as we need to get under the rubble but I’m sure it will double or more,’ he said. ‘We haven’t really begun to count the number of dead’.
Mr. Griffiths also said the UN would work to open more border crossings from Turkey into north-west Syria.
On Monday, two earthquakes killed over 29,000, people and left 98,000, injured in one of the deadliest disasters in the region in more than 100 years.
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According to the World Health Organization, about 26 million people have been impacted by the disaster. Anger at the destruction of so many high-rise buildings has prompted officials in Turkey to issue over 100 arrest warrants in connection with the construction of buildings.
At least a dozen people have been ushered into custody, including building contractors and developers.