Edited News | OCHA , UNITED NATIONS
Aid convoys will continue cross-border into Syria ‘for as long as needs are there’: UN aid teams
UN aid trucks filled with vital relief support continue to cross the border from southern Türkiye into northwest Syria to help communities enduring terrible trauma caused by last week’s earthquake disaster – “and (they) will continue every day for as long as the needs are there”, UN aid teams said on Friday.
“Since 9 February and up to last night we have a total of 143 trucks going through the Bab al-Hawa and Bab al-Salam border crossings,” said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). “The movements continue today, they continue over the weekend and will continue every day for as long as the needs are there.”
According to the OCHA spokesperson, there are no obstacles to cross-border aid.
“The information that I have is that all the roads through all the crossing points are passable and you can drive there, so that’s a good thing,” he said. “I was myself at Bab al-Hawa a couple of - a few days ago - and the trucks were indeed rolling across.”
Amid massive devastation in both Türkiye and Syria after the double quake strike on 6 February, relief workers have stressed that the full extent of disaster is still unfolding.
UN-led flash appeals for both countries have been issued this week – for Türkiye, a $1 billion request for three months to help 5.2 million people, and for nearly five million people in Syrian, a $397 million humanitarian appeal – jumpstarted by a $50 million funding injection from the the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund.
At least 8.8 million people in Syria are known to have been affected by the earthquake, with the majority anticipated to need some form of humanitarian assistance, as relief teams have seen first-hand in Aleppo.
“I was quite overwhelmed by not only the magnitude of the destruction but the loss that was inflicted on families, you know, during only 60 seconds,” said Fabrizio Carboni, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Regional Director for the Near and Middle East.
“For the first time I saw that there was not only a crack, and cracks in the buildings, but for the first time I really saw that our colleagues, the people you talked to in Syria, they were really wounded and something is broken.”
Speaking to journalists in Geneva, the ICRC official also issued a strong appeal for crossline aid deliveries from Damascus to be allowed through: “We tried to get into Idlib through crossline and so far we’ve been blocked, unfortunately. So, I don’t have first-hand information on the roads and access but yeah, we’re ready to get in but we are so far blocked to do crossline, hoping that this could change soon.”
Needs remain massive but the international response is gaining momentum, both in Türkiye and Syria, confirmed Caroline Holt, global director for operations at The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC): “In Türkiye, we’re very much supporting with the Turkish Red Crescent on the ground to support with shelter needs, with food, with wash, with health and also with cash.
“In Syria, we are working of course through and with our partner the Syrian Arab Red Crescent to support people with basic needs and household items, including health, psychosocial support and of course WASH, because of course, access to clean and safe water as we know in these situations is absolutely critical to avoid that second potential disaster, that second health disaster unfolding.”
ends
STORY: Earthquake Relief Update Syria, Türkiye: OCHA, ICRC, IFRC
TRT: 2’50”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
RELEASED: 17 February 2023
SHOTLIST
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The UN Human Rights Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani provided the following update on UN Human Rights Office work in Bangladesh at the bi-weekly press conference.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Humanitarian pauses in Gaza fighting will enable polio vaccine campaign to begin Sunday, says WHO
The United Nations has reached a tentative agreement with parties involved in the war in Gaza for humanitarian pauses to allow 640,000 children to be vaccinated amid an outbreak of the virus. According to UN World Health Organization (WHO) Representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, the two-round vaccination campaign is due to begin on 1 September in central Gaza for three days, then move to the southern and northern areas. A second dose will be administered after four weeks.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
At the bi-weekly press conference in Geneva, Ravina Shamdasani Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights made the following comments on the recent adoption of the repressive law in Afghanistan.
1
1
2
Edited News | WHO , OCHA
In Gaza, repeated mass evacuation orders issued by the Israeli military are radically shrinking the space in which aid workers can operate and depriving war-weary Palestinians of desperately needed relief items and health care, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
27
1
1
Edited News | UNITED NATIONS
Geneva Conventions commemoration hears urgent call to respect laws of war
Seventy-five years since the ratification of the Geneva Conventions, a former child soldier-turned foreign minister of Sierra Leone urged greater international support for the key accords, highlighting their importance in rehabilitating him and tens of thousands of his fellow compatriots following the country’s bitter civil war.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNHCR , WHO
Aid teams cite huge challenges in tackling new Sudan cholera outbreak
Protecting war-weary people in Sudan from a second deadly cholera outbreak is proving a huge challenge for aid teams after more than 16 months of heavy fighting, combined with flooding and ongoing access obstacles, they reported on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Mpox is “not the ‘new COVID’” and European governments need to show strong political commitment to eliminate it, while standing in solidarity with Africa, a top official of the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.
1
1
2
Edited News | OCHA , UNRWA , WHO , WFP
As the aid worker community commemorated fallen colleagues at solemn ceremonies marking World Humanitarian Day on Monday, frontline staff putting their lives on the line today highlighted the risks of providing help to vulnerable communities.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
OHCHR condemns settler attack in Jit, citing Israeli policy and impunity as causes.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , WFP
UN aid agencies on Friday welcomed the news that the Sudanese authorities will open Adre border crossing from Chad into Sudan, as the war-torn country faces famine or acute hunger in many regions, with many roads impassable owing to heavy rains.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Chief urges accountability for rights violations in Bangladesh's transition.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN rights chief alarmed by detentions and violence post-Venezuela elections.