“Aid, life-saving aid, is urgently needed by the civilian population wherever they are, across borders and borders,” he told journalists in Geneva. “We urgently need it, via the quickest, most direct and most effective ways. You need more of absolutely everything.”
According to the UN Coordinating Office for Assistance, OCHASix trucks carrying “shelter items and non-food kits, including blankets and hygiene kits,” arrived Thursday at Bab al-Hawa, the only UN Security Council crossing point authorized for the delivery of relief supplies.
He demanded the answer not be politicized and the focus is on “those we can still save”.
The Special Envoy’s appeal was followed by a warning UN humanitarian officials on Wednesday said the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance in the country – estimated at a staggering 15.3 million before the earthquake disaster – needs to be revised upwards.
United for humanitarian needs
“We must do everything we can to ensure that there are no obstacles to delaying the life-saving assistance that is needed in Syria,” Pedersen continued after chairing a meeting of the Syrian Humanitarian Task Force, which is overseeing aid shipments to the War-ravaged relieved country. “I was struck by the unity in the congregation We had today from all the different Member States that took part,” he added.
Asked if now is the time to lift some sanctions on Syria to ensure aid reaches those in need, the special envoy replied that he would discuss this point “particularly with the representatives of the United States and the European Union and the… discussed EU They assured me that they would do everything possible to ensure that there were no obstacles to help come to Syria to help with this operation”.
Food is distributed to people displaced after the earthquake in Aleppo, Syria.
window of survival
However, in areas hit by the tragedy of the double earthquake, rescuers have continued to pull more people alive from the rubble The chances of finding trapped survivors are rapidly decreasing.
The first 72 hours are always crucial, humanists said, after the first 7.8-magnitude quake struck near Gaziantep, Türkiye, early Monday morning, followed by another 7.5-magnitude quake a few hours later.
The combined confirmed death toll in Syria and Türkiye is now more than 17,000 people. With more casualties expected, the UN envoy to Syria asked for “access and resources regardless of borders and borders.”
He added: “As we speak, the death toll continues to mount in both countries and there are still too many people lying under the rubble in the freezing cold. The earthquake came just as the humanitarian crisis in north-west Syria was already worsening and needs were at their highest levels since the conflict began.”
war tragedy
Almost 12 years after Syria’s devastating civil war began, the country is facing massive economic difficulties and one of the world’s largest displacement crises. Before the earthquake and based on assessments, the UN calculated that more than four million people in north-west Syria alone were in need of cross-border aid.
Syria is divided into areas controlled by the Syrian government, opposition forces and other armed groups. Government and opposition areas are particularly hard hit by the earthquake.
“We need support to go to the North West, we need support to go to the government-controlled areas that have been particularly hard hit, Aleppo and Hama … and we know that the airports in Aleppo and also Damascus are already being supported,” said Mr Pedersen.
In all affected parts of Syria, humanitarian workers have reported an urgent need for logistical, skilled rescue teams and emergency shelters. The UN is helping to mobilize emergency response teams and relief efforts, and many countries have already offered their support.
Türkiye Operations
More than 100 city search and rescue teams are now working in the disaster-hit areas of Türkiye, UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said at a briefing to reporters in New York. He said the government has requested the deployment of two UN Disaster and Assessment Coordination Teams (UNDAC) totaling 50 members to operate in Gaziantep and four hubs in the disaster area.
Another UNDAC team is also deployed to Turkey’s capital, Ankara, while a separate team is en route to Syria to support the response there, which will enter via Lebanon, Mr Dujarric said.
