Tag: Humanitarian aid

Shirin Yaseen from the Office of the Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General visited northwestern Syria as part of an interagency mission to assess the situation there.

“On the day we visited Jindairis in northern Syria, one of the areas most affected by the February earthquake, the weather conditions were very bad. A mobile medical clinic housed in a tent was lifted off the ground by high winds scattering supplies and medical instruments.

The dreams of the children in this camp are simple. One told me that she needs glasses, another decent shoes so she can walk the camp’s unpaved roads. A young girl, Ahlam, told me all she just wanted was to go back to school. A mother asked for a wheelchair for her 20-year-old daughter. 

Earthquake experience

In another camp, in Idleb, called Kammonah I met Yazi Khaled Al-Abdullah whose suffering reflects the experience of hundreds of thousands of people who were made homeless as a result of the earthquake. 

She told me how at four o’clock in the morning she felt shaking but didn’t know what was happening. Her children told her not to be afraid and after they all left their house it collapsed. It was rainy and they were shivering from cold, but didn’t know what to do or where to go.

They ended up at Kammonah camp and were advised to sign up for a shelter. A month after the quake they are still living in a tent with two other families. 

Yazi Khaled Al-Abdullah told me that she loves to cook but doesn’t have pots or a gas stove. Sometimes prepared food, usually rice, is provided, but she has diabetes, so is not getting the nutrition that she needs.

She and her family are desperate to return home even if that means living a very basic life. She used an Arabic expression which says that even if they have only dirt to eat, they still want to go back to their hometown.

Her family left Sinjar eight years ago because of the war in Syria and spent time here and there. She told me her son and husband were working their land and tending sheep when they were killed by a plane. In her words, they have become martyrs.

I also met Mazyad Abdul Majeed Al-Zayed, who runs the Ajnadayn camp in Jindairis and who himself is a victim of the earthquake. 

He explained the difficult conditions in which the camp residents live, due to a shortage of everything, including tents. Mobile clinics operate in the area, but they lack medicine and come only sporadically. 

He said the camp is miserable and that he did not bring his family here as he could not bear to see them live in such conditions.

Later I visited tents set up opposite the Al-Rafa Specialized Hospital in Jindairis, which housed mobile clinics, including one for children and one for women.

Patients and visitors are received daily in these clinics, which were established several days after the earthquake. 

The hospital is surrounded by destroyed buildings, and the medical staff live and work in the same conditions as the people they are treating.

The medical system in this part of Syria was overburdened even before the earthquake, and now the medical staff is exhausted and equipment is almost completely broken. 

Countless people affected by the earthquake have sought refuge in this area in northwestern Syria. Many did so to escape the war which has been raging for 12 years now. 

A woman I spoke to said she had no idea what her future would hold having fled over a period of five years from Saraqib to Afrin, which was bombed, and then to Jindairis.

I met and spoke to so many people including young unaccompanied children who had been separated from their parents, whose lives had been upended by the war and then the earthquake.

But I also met people who had hope and optimism for a brighter future. I met diligent and caring aid workers who partner the UN and who try every day to improve the lives of those affected. 

Meanwhile, the UN has launched a $400 million humanitarian appeal, and continues to work with its partners to ensure that relief supplies reach the most vulnerable people.

Find more here about the work of the UN in Syria.

The amount is set to increase as the magnitude of the disaster becomes clearer, he said, speaking during a press conference from the Syrian capital, Damascus.

Latest reports put the death toll at more than 33,000, according to international media, with millions more left homeless.

Ramping up operations

Tedros also reported that the Syrian authorities appear open to allowing more border crossings to deliver humanitarian aid into the northwest.

War-ravaged Syria is divided into areas under the control of the Government, opposition forces and armed groups.  

WHO is working across all areas affected by the earthquake, which struck on Monday.  

The UN agency is also scaling up operations across the country, including in the northwest, where the impact is even worse. 

More than 4,300 deaths and 7,600 injuries have been reported there, according to the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA .

Prior to the earthquake, 4.1 million people were already depending on humanitarian aid, and needs were at an all-time high.

Recent developments welcomed 

Tedros stressed the need to take response “to the next level” to reach all populations who require support.

He welcomed the decision by the United States to ease sanctions against Syria in the wake of the tragedy.

“We equally appreciate the recent blanket approval by the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic for the UN for cross-line convoys, as well as measures to increase cross-border access. We hope this continues,” he said.

The WHO chief reported that he had met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad earlier on Sunday afternoon “who indicated he was open to considering additional cross-border access points for this emergency.” 

Ready to move

Tedros said he is waiting to move across conflict lines to northwest Syria.

“We’re on stand-by actually,” he told journalists.  “We can move anytime now through the coastline to the northwest.  Based on the blanket permit, we have already permission from this side. We’re waiting now to hear from the other side. As soon as we get that we will cross to the northwest.”

After the earthquake struck, WHO immediately accessed its pre-positioned supplies in the northwest and Aleppo, thus making treatment of major injuries possible. Staff also began distributing supplies to health facilities.

Responding to needs

Tedros arrived in Syria on Saturday, where WHO and partners have so far distributed 110 tonnes of medical supplies to affected areas across the country. 

A flight is scheduled to arrive in Damascus on Sunday night with vital specialized emergency health supplies for frontline workers.  

The UN agency also is supporting surge capacity of frontline specialized medical teams.

Cascading crises

The earthquake is the latest crisis to hit Syria, following the ongoing conflict, the COVID-19 pandemic, cholera outbreaks, and economic decline.

Twelve years of war have “pulverized” the healthcare system, said Dr. Michael Ryan, WHO Emergencies Director.   Prior to the earthquake, just 50 per cent of health facilities were functioning, but the true impact is much greater.

“Not only physical damage to the infrastructure itself but the exodus of health workers, the loss of salaries, loss of training,” he said.  “It’s just that death by a thousand cuts to the system.”

‘An unfolding tragedy’

The WHO chief expressed deep respect and admiration for the survivors, first responders and health workers, though pointing to the immense needs they face.

National and international organizations, but also neighbours, mosques, churches and community groups, have been racing to deliver everything from food, clean water and medical care, to a safe space for people to sleep.

Tedros was in Aleppo on Saturday and visited a WHO-supported mobile health clinic distributing medicines to people with conditions such as headaches, anxiety and difficulty sleeping

“WHO and other organizations have trained community workers to offer rapid mental health support, but much more is needed,” he said.

While in the city, Tedros met a young girl called Nour, who lost her parents and suffered a broken arm when their six-storey apartment building collapsed, noting that she “is just one example of an unfolding tragedy that is affecting millions”.

Cross-border aid 

The UN’s top humanitarian official continues his mission in the region, OCHA reported on Sunday.

Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths travelled to the Turkish side of Baba Al-Hawa, the only remaining border crossing for UN aid delivery into northwest Syria authorized by the Security Council.

Mr. Griffiths also visited a UN hub 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. 

This was the fourth UN cross-border aid convoy since the earthquake struck northern Türkiye on Monday, affecting people on both sides of the border. 

The first convoy, with six trucks, crossed into Syria on Thursday following a three-day temporary disruption from damaged key roads. 

A second convoy of 14 IOM trucks crossed on Friday, followed by a third the next day comprised of 22 trucks containing medicines, cholera test kits, blankets, hygiene kits  solar lamps and other relief items.

OCHA said aftershocks are reportedly continuing in northwest Syria, forcing people to keep fleeing their homes. 

Civil defense teams concluded search and rescue operations on Saturday and have moved onto removing debris and recovering bodies, however efforts are being hampered by fuel shortages and a lack of machinery and vehicles.

‘Put politics aside’: UN Envoy

Meanwhile, the UN Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, arrived in Damascus on Sunday on a pre-planned visit.

He affirmed that humanitarians will do all they can to access everyone who needs help, and underlined his efforts to rally support.

“We are reaching out of course to bilateral countries, we are mobilizing funding and we’re trying to tell everyone put politics aside. This is a time to unite behind a common effort to support the Syrian people,” he said.

Mr. Pedersen also stressed the need for crossline and cross-border access.  “I’m in close touch with the UN humanitarian family, we’re working together to try to mobilize this support and that of course is my key message during this visit to Syria.”
 

Mr. Griffiths was speaking in the Turkish city of Kahramanmaraş, where recovery efforts are ongoing in frigid temperatures.

He met with families left homeless by the disaster and listened to their stories of shock and devastation. 

“I am here to make sure that these people also are not forgotten,” he said.

Hope for survivors

The UN relief chief also spoke with search and rescue teams as they carried out their operations in the devastated central parts of the city, amid collapsed buildings with excavation equipment digging through the debris.

UN teams are already on the ground, and more than 130 countries have dispatched responders, sniffer dogs, experts and other personnel.

“There has never been an international response, a Turkish response, to a natural disaster, as we see here in these terrible days,” said Mr. Griffiths.

He praised the courage of people, including parents, who are working round the clock in efforts to rescue their families and children from the rubble – “hoping for one more sound, for one more person to survive.”

Humanitarian support

It is estimated that more than 20,000 people have died in the double earthquake, which struck southeastern Türkiye and northern Syria early on Monday morning. 

Millions more have been left homeless, including Syrians displaced by the 12-year war in their homeland and thousands of refugees who have fled across the border.

For Mr. Griffiths, the next phase will be to look after those affected by the tragedy.

“And I’ve met some of them already today,” he said, “people who’ve lost their homes, whose children don’t have schools to go to, who have no food, who have no money, who depend on the generosity of the Turkish people, the Turkish government and the international community.”

Mr. Griffiths is expected to visit the UN-authorised cross-border operation to Syria in the south of Türkiye on Sunday before travelling there.

The UN and partners will also launch appeals for the two countries.

In a video on his Twitter, Mr. Griffiths said “I hope what we will see is the same kind of generous, immediate and urgent international response to humanitarian needs that we have seen to those organizations helping the people of these cities to rescue the living from the dead.” 

Heartbreaking conditions

Meanwhile, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, arrived in Aleppo, Syria, on Saturday.

“I’m heartbroken to see the conditions survivors are facing – freezing weather and extremely limited access to shelter, food, water, heat and medical care,” he wrote in a post on his official Twitter account.

In a separate tweet, Tedros recounted how he met two babies, Nour and Omar, who lost their parents in the earthquake. 

“There are no words to express the pain they are going through. Grateful to colleagues and partners who are providing them with needed care, comfort and love,” he wrote.