Earthquakes: North-west Syria

Today, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator (ERC) Martin Griffiths visited the Turkish side of Bab Al-Hawa, the single remaining border-crossing authorized by the Security Council for UN aid delivery to north-west Syria.

Since 2014, the beginning of the cross-border operation, the UN has sent more than 55,000 trucks loaded with aid to north-west Syria. Of the four border crossings originally authorized by the Security Council, three crossings have been closed – Al-Ramtha (Jordan), Al Yarubiyah (Iraq) and Bab al-Salam (Türkiye).

Mr. Griffiths also visited the UN Transshipment Hub, this morning in Hatay, where he witnessed the transshipment and monitoring of 10 trucks loaded with aid provided by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) prior to setting off to Syria. He also met with staff of the UN Monitoring Mechanism and the Logistics Cluster in charge of managing the Hub, many of whom were in Hatay, the most affected Türkish province, on the day of the earthquakes.

This is the fourth UN cross-border aid convoy since a 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck Türkiye on 6 February, burying people in both Türkiye and Syria under the rubble of collapsed homes. The first cross-border convoy since the earthquakes crossed on 9 February, with six trucks, following a three-day temporary disruption from damaged key roads. A second convoy of 14 IOM trucks crossed on 10 February, followed by a third convoy the next day comprised of 22 trucks loaded with relief items from four UN agencies. The latter included medicines, cholera test kits, blankets, hygiene kits and solar lamps.

Aftershocks are reportedly continuing in north-west Syria, continuously forcing people to flee their homes. Civil defense teams concluded their search and rescue operations on 11 February and have moved towards the stage of removing debris and recovering bodies. However, fuel shortages and a lack of machinery and vehicles to remove debris are hampering efforts.

More than 4,300 deaths and 7,600 injuries have been reported in north-west Syria as of 12 February. Before the earthquakes, humanitarian needs in north-west Syria were already at an all-time high, where 4.1 million people depend on humanitarian assistance. 1.8 million people live in camps or self-settled sites with limited or no access to water, health services or heating. The impacts of the earthquakes only exacerbate their needs during a cholera outbreak and at a time when rain, snow and cold temperatures are common.

There is a great need for tents given that many homes have been destroyed and as many as 11,000 people are homeless. More than 7,400 buildings have been partially or fully damaged in the north-west alone. Flooding in the village of Al Tlul in Idleb has affected some 1,000 homes, forcing around 7,000 people to evacuate as of 11 February.

In a video released on 11 February, Mr. Griffiths announced that a funding appeal for Türkiye and Syria will be launched shortly. The Syria Cross-border Humanitarian Fund (SCHF) has so far received pledged contributions aiming to respond to humanitarian needs in north-west Syria including the earthquake response thanks to the generous support of France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United States of America.

This morning, Mr. Griffiths tweeted out: “We have so far failed the people in north-west Syria. They rightly feel abandoned. Looking for international help that hasn’t arrived. My duty and our obligation is to correct this failure as fast as we can.”