A new UN convoy arrived in Syria on Sunday from Turkey, bringing much-awaited aid to Syrian victims of the earthquake that killed more than 33,000 people in these two countries, a toll that could “double” according to the United Nations .
Ten trucks crossed the border at the Bab-al Hawa crossing point in northwestern Syria, an AFP correspondent noted, bringing emergency shelter materials with plastic sheeting, blankets, mattresses, ropes, screws and nails, among others.
“Until now we have failed the people of northwestern Syria. They rightly feel abandoned,” said UN relief chief Martin Griffiths. We must now “correct this failure as soon as possible”, he adds in a tweet.
According to an official of the Syrian Ministry of Transport, Suleiman Khalil, 62 planes loaded with aid have so far landed in the country and more are expected in the hours and days to come, notably from Saudi Arabia.
In Syria, the city of Jableh “condemned”
In Jableh, on the Syrian coast, “many families have been separated, the situation is extremely difficult” and the hope of finding people alive is rapidly disappearing, testifies Rouba Ahmed Shaheen, 43, a member of the medical rescue team. “Today, the city is doomed,” she said.
Access to Syria at war, whose regime is under international sanctions, is proving more complicated than for Turkey.
Humanitarian organizations are particularly worried about the spread of cholera, which has reappeared in Syria.
The Damascus government on Friday authorized “the delivery of humanitarian aid to the whole” of the country – including areas held by the rebels.
On Saturday, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad visited Jableh. On Sunday, he thanked the United Arab Emirates for their “enormous help”, as he received the head of Emirati diplomacy, Sheikh Abdallah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan.
“The United Arab Emirates was among the first countries to stand with Syria and send huge humanitarian aid,” Assad said in a presidential statement, hailing their “quick response, which reflects the depth bilateral relations”.
Miraculous rescues in Turkey
In Turkey, cases of miraculous rescues well beyond the crucial 72-hour post-disaster period continue to be reported by Turkish relief workers and media.
In Adiyaman, a 23-year-old woman, Elif Kirmizi, was rescued 153 hours after the earthquake, one hour after the rescue of her sister Rabia, a 28-year-old teacher. Their father died in the disaster.
Mustafa Sarigul, 35, was saved at the 149e hour in Hatay by Turkish gendarmes and teams from Italy and Romania, after twelve hours of effort during which the man sang under the rubble to keep his spirits up.
On the diplomatic-humanitarian front, Turkey and Greece have muted their long historical rivalry, heightened by territorial, economic and migratory disputes, in favor of solidarity.
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias visited the disaster areas of Turkey on Sunday with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, who gave him a warm welcome.
Athens was one of the very first countries to announce aid to its neighbor, and this visit is the first by a European minister to Turkey since the start of the disaster.
A human toll that “will double, or more”
According to the latest official reports, the earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 killed more than 33,000 people: 29,605 in Turkey and 3,574 in Syria.
Visiting Kahramanmaras in Turkey, the head of the UN humanitarian agency Martin Griffiths told Sky News on Saturday that the toll will “double, or more”.
“We haven’t really started counting the number of dead yet,” he added.
“Soon the people responsible for search and rescue will give way to the humanitarian agencies whose job it is to take care of the extraordinary number of people affected over the next few months,” said Mr. Griffiths.
Poor constructions
Nearly 32,000 people are mobilized for search and rescue operations in Turkey, as well as more than 8,000 foreign rescuers according to the Turkish agency responsible for natural disasters.
The brutal collapse of the buildings, which betrays their poor construction and left their residents with virtually no chance, is angering the country.
Turkish media reported the arrest of a dozen building contractors in the south of the country. Further arrests are expected.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 26 million people may have been affected in Turkey and Syria, including “around five million vulnerable people”, and launched an urgent appeal on Saturday to collect 42.8 million dollars.
