An Syria alone, 8.8 million people were affected by the aftermath of the earthquake disaster, the Deputy UN Representative for Syria Najat Rochdi wrote on Twitter on Sunday – around two weeks after the earthquake. “The majority of them are likely to need some form of humanitarian assistance.”
The number of reported deaths remained almost unchanged on Sunday compared to the previous day. The Turkish civil protection agency Afad counted 40,689 dead, 47 more than the day before. In Syria, around 5,900 deaths have been counted in connection with the tremors. The number is updated less frequently.
The disaster hit the region hard in many ways. It is difficult to foresee what the consequences will be for students and the classroom. Yasmine Sherif, director of the UN Education Cannot Wait (ECW) fund, told Al-Jazeera TV that 600 schools had been destroyed in Syria alone. The fund is expected to provide $7 million in emergency grants to help children in Syria continue to have access to education.
Search work completed in nine of the eleven affected provinces
Some on-site rescue operations were drawing to a close over the weekend. For example, a search and rescue team from Qatar ended its two-week mission in southern Turkey, as reported by the Qatari news agency QNA. The Turkish civil protection agency Afad announced on Sunday that the search work in nine of the eleven affected provinces had ended. Only in Kahramanmaraş and Hatay will the search continue for victims, Afad chairman Yunus Sezer told journalists in Ankara.
It is estimated that more than 1.2 million people have left the affected region in Turkey. More than a million people are currently being temporarily housed in shelters, Sezer said.
Earthquakes in Turkey and Syria
:
Basically, the misery is indescribable
Image: Lucas Bäuml
American Secretary of State Blinken wanted to visit the hard-hit Turkish province of Hatay on Sunday and get an idea of the situation with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu. At the Turkish air base Incirlik, he should also visit the area where aid is being prepared for transport, the State Department said. A meeting with affected families and search and rescue teams was also planned. Tons of aid came into the country via Incirlik, including some from Germany.
About two weeks after the tremors, not everyone in north-west Syria has received emergency aid. “We are still at the beginning and have not yet seen the worst,” said the UN emergency aid coordinator responsible for Syria, Muhannad Hadi, of the dpa. So far, for example, around 60,000 people have been supplied with water and around 13,000 earthquake victims with tents. According to the UN, around 40,000 households are currently homeless.
Since the disaster, more than 140 trucks carrying UN aid have traveled from Turkey to rebel-held north-western Syria. There, more than 9,000 buildings were completely or partially destroyed, leaving at least 11,000 people homeless. According to the UN, those affected most urgently needed accommodation such as tents.