Excavations of survivors from under the rubble continued in Turkey on the ninth day of the earthquake, while, on Tuesday, the first aid convoy from the United Nations entered through the Bab al-Salama border crossing between Turkey and the areas controlled by the opposition factions in northern Syria.
Nine survivors have been pulled from the rubble in Turkey, more than a week after the devastating earthquake, as the focus of relief efforts shifts to helping people now languishing in the freezing cold without adequate shelter or food.
Among those rescued on Tuesday were two brothers, aged 17 and 21, who were pulled out from under the rubble of a residential building in Kahramanmaraş province, and a woman rescued from under the rubble of a building in the southern city of Antakya.
The disaster, in which the death toll in Turkey and neighboring Syria exceeded 41,000, destroyed cities in both countries, leaving many survivors homeless in near-freezing temperatures.
On Tuesday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres launched an emergency appeal to raise about $400 million to help the earthquake victims in Syria over a period of three months.
UN cross-border aid is a lifeline.
11 trucks with @UNmigration aid just crossed to north-west #Syria through Bab Al-Salam.
In addition, 26 trucks with aid by @refugees @UNmigration @who crossed through Bab Al-Hawa. pic.twitter.com/nF9dB2pSoy
— Martin Griffiths (@UNReliefChief) February 14, 2023
Guterres called on all member states to “fund fully and without delay” these efforts in order to secure “the humanitarian assistance needed by about five million Syrians, including shelter, medical care and food.”
“The needs are enormous,” he said, and “we are all aware that life-saving aid is not arriving at the necessary speed and volume,” noting that the organization is working on a similar appeal for donations for earthquake victims in Turkey.
On the other hand, the first aid convoy from the United Nations entered through the Bab al-Salama border crossing between Turkey and the areas controlled by the opposition factions in northern Syria, on Tuesday.
This is the first time that the United Nations has entered aid through Bab al-Salama, since it stopped using it in 2020, as a result of Russian pressure on the UN Security Council, which led to the modification of the mechanism for delivering aid across the border.
The convoy provided by the International Organization for Migration includes 11 aid trucks in response to the needs of the area severely affected by the earthquake.
Bab al-Salama crossing connects Turkey to the north of Aleppo governorate, where 1.1 million people live in areas under the control of Syrian factions loyal to Ankara. It is a commercial and military crossing used by Turkey and its loyal factions.
The areas outside the control of the Syrian government in northern Aleppo and Idlib governorate (northwest), where nearly 3 million people live under the control of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly al-Nusra) and other less influential factions, are among the areas most affected by the devastating earthquake.
On Monday, Guterres announced that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had agreed to open two additional border crossings between Turkey and northwestern Syria to bring humanitarian aid to those affected by the earthquake.
Before the earthquake, humanitarian aid entered northwestern Syria from Turkey through Bab al-Hawa, the only crossing point guaranteed by a Security Council resolution on cross-border aid.
