Türkiye, Syria quake latest: full scale of disaster still unfolding, UN humanitarians warn

The full scale of the multiple earthquake disaster in Türkiye and Syria is still unfolding, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday, as they stressed the critical need to step up search and rescue efforts for victims and ensure that lifesaving aid reaches all those who need it.

According to the latest figures from Türkiye's Disaster And Emergency Management Presidency a total of 7,108 people lost their lives and 40,910 people were injured in Kahramanmaraş, Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa, Diyarbakır, Adana, Adıyaman, Osmaniye, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya and Elazığ provinces as a result of the earthquake with a magnitude of 7.7 which occured at 04:17 am on February 6, 2023 at Pazarcik district of Kahramanmaraş province. After the first earthquake, a total of 648 earthquakes occurred, the largest of which was centered in Elbistan with a magnitude of 7.6.

The UN relief chief and head of OCHA, Martin Griffiths announced on Tuesday afternoon that the UN was releasing $25 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to provide urgent support across the whole region.

“As the people in the region deal with the devastating consequences of this tragedy, we want to tell them that they are not alone...The humanitarian community will support them in every step of the way out of this crisis.”

‘Lives are at stake’

Other UN agencies and partners have also provided lifesaving support on the ground, including the World Health Organization (WHO).

“We’ve actually been able to move trauma and surgical kits cross-border from Gaziantep where of course we have prepositioned supplies and we have been able to supply 16 hospitals in Syria, in the affected areas in Syria, as of yesterday,” said Dr. Margaret Harris, WHO spokesperson.

In a special briefing during WHO's executive board session, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said it was now "a race against time" to rescue as many survivors as possible. He announced that three charter flights would take off from both affected countries, with medical supplies including major surgical trauma kits, from WHO's logistics hub in Dubai.

"We will work closely with all partners to support authorities in both countries, in the critical hours and days ahead, and in the months and years to come as both countries recover and rebuild", said Tedros. "To our sisters and brothers from Türkiye and the Syrian Arab Republic, we all stand with you in this moment of unspeakable grief."

Syrian toll

Syria’s needs are massive, the OCHA spokesperson continued earlier in Geneva, as he relayed information from the country’s health authorities which reported at least 769 deaths and 1,448 injuries from the earthquakes, in Aleppo, Latakia, Hama, Idlib countryside and Tartus.

After enduring the initial massive earthquakes, traumatized communities in Syria then faced more than 200 aftershocks.

“This of course came at the worst possible time for many, many vulnerable children in those areas who were already in need of humanitarian support,” said James Elder, spokesperson for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

“They went to bed as normal, they were woken by the screams of their neighbours, by breaking glass and by the terrifying sound of crumbling concrete.”

Already displaced by violence

Although Syria is in crisis after 13 years of war, there is particular concern for all those affected by Monday’s disaster who live in opposition-held areas in the northwest of the country, often after being forced to flee their homes multiple times because of heavy fighting.

“It was already an emergency situation across northwest Syria where four million people receive humanitarian support. Communities there are grappling with cholera outbreak, a brutal winter and of course ongoing conflict,” Mr. Elder explained.

Echoing those concerns, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said that the situation is tragic in the 10 Turkish provinces affected by the earthquakes.